1 



n^ 



=■-/ 



PS 1019 ^ 

'i 1888 
Copy 1 







\, 









'I 



K 



^•s^i JL 



Y 

si 



■^"' ;;-, '-.'V 



^' ^ r:^.• 



^■>-\ 



j-\l 




PANSIES 



FOR THOUGHTS 



FROM THE WRITINGS OF 



PANSY — MRS G R ALDEN 



COMPILED AND ARRANGED 
WITH AN APPROPRIATE TEXT FOR EACH DAY BY 

GRACE LIVINGSTON 

Author of 




BOSTON 
D LOTHROP COMPANY 

FRANKLIN AND HAWLEY STREETS 






Gf'NV 



Copyright, 1888 

BY 

D. LoTHROP Company. 



PREFACE. 

I have followed with absorbing interest the com- 
pilation of this volume. As I have watched the 
fair young head bent from day to day over " The 
Deathless Book," making quotations from its in- 
spired pages that should repeat and emphasize my 
own thoughts, there has been a grateful, uplifting, 
humbling realization of the fact that I was being 
linked with immortality ! For certainly the words 
that accompany my simple ones make each page 
glow with a light that shall have power to shine 
even to the very gates of the eternal city. 

Moreover, as I have watched the thoughtful face 
of the compiler brighten and flush, and her eyes 
grow earnest while her heart took in some solemn 
charge of the Master, I have felt that, as she 
transmitted it to paper, there went with it a prayer 
that the Holy Spirit who had guided her choice, 
would use these pages in away to lead some souls 
daily higher, and higher, even into the "shining 
light " of the " perfect day." 

In this wish and prayer I join her earnestly, as 
the little book goes out to do its work. 

Pansy. 



JANUARY. 

1. The Lord knows the end from the be- 
ginning, and nothing is surer than that He 
uses His children to carry out His plans. 

An Endless Chain. 

' ' He knoweth thy walking through this great wil- 
der ness." 

2. This is my verse when I am discour- 
aged : " Wait on the Lord ; be of good 
courage and he shall strengthen thine heart : 
wait, I say, on the Lord." 

Ester Ried. 

" iVb word He hath spoken, 
Was ever yet broken." 

3. " Pity's sake ! if you weren't going 
to be a better woman by ten thousand times 
when you get to heaven than you are here, 
why, heaven would be an out and out disap- 
pointment, that's all," said Priscilla Hunter. 

Miss Priscilla Hunter. 

" And as we have home the image of the earthly, 
we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." 

5 



6 JANUARY. 

4. Conscience, working all alone, is a 
very uncomfortable and disagreeable com- 
panion, and often accomplishes for the time 
being nothing beyond making his victim 
disagreeable. 

The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 

" Their conscience also hearing icitness, and their 
thoughts the meaniohile accusing or else excusing 
one another.'' 

5. You take a diamond and throw it 
down in the dirt and filth, and put your foot 
on it and grind it in, and leave it there, 
sinking and soiling, day after day, year 
after year, and when somebody comes along 
and picks it out, how much will it gleam 
for Him at first ? Yet the diamond is there. 

Ester Ried yet Speaking. 

** Thou shalt be a crown of glory in the hand of the 
Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God." 

6. " Peace with God ! " It expresses 
so much ! Peace is greater than joy, or com- 
fort, or rest. 

Ruth Erskine's Crosses. 

" And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to 
the which also you are called in one body." 



JANUARY. 7 

7. Mine is the doing Avhen He says the 
word, but His is the bringing to pass. And 
that, you see, is the end of all worrying and 
planning and doubt. There is no rest nor 
comfort outside of that conclusion. 

The Randolphs. 

" Then he said unto the man, Stretch forth thine 
hand. And he stretched it forth ; and it was re- 
stored whole, like as the other." 

8. A sweet-faced cooing baby, arrayed 
in fine white-broidered garments, with bright 
eyes and dimpled chin, and mouth that 
breaks into radiant smiles whenever one 
looks that way, is an exquisite bit of enjoy- 
ment for anybody. 

Mrs. Solomon Smith. 

" And when she saw that he was a goodly child 
she hid him three months." 

9. What a fearful world it would be if 
things just happened, with nobody to man- 
age or control ! 

An Endless Chain. 

•' For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro through- 
out the. whole earth, to show himself strong in the 
behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.'' 



8 



JAXUARY. 



10. We grieve sometimes that we can- 
not know people's hearts, and foresee what 
would please, and what would irritate. 
Hearts calm down wonderfully sometimes ; 
what need then to know of their depths 
while at boiling point ? But what sights 
must the all-seeing God look down upon ! 
Sights in tenderness shut away from the 
gaze of His weak children. 

A New Graft. 
♦' For He knoweth the secrets of the heart." 



11. " Dilligent in business, serving the 
Lord." There is no period dividing these. 
I long ago discovered that I could make a 
bed and sweep a room for His sake, as 
surely as I could speak a word for Him. 

A New Graft. 

" Faith is the golden thread on vihich we string for 

offering, 
Our feeble deeds of poor self-sacrifice ; 
Unworthy gifts, yet in His grace, the King 
Accounts them pearls of price." 



JANUARY. 9 

12. I know people who suppose it would 
be almost irrevereut to take their domestic 
bewilderments to Christ. I cannot think 
what kind of a friend they imagine Him 
to be, if they are afraid to go to Him with 
everything. 

The Pocket Measure. 

" Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in 
him; and he shall bring it to pass." 

13. Although the Lord is gracious and 
forbearing, and kindly gives me the work 
to do here and there for Him, He can, when 
He chooses, get along entirely without any 
help. 

Three People. 

•• For of Mm, and through him, and to him, are 
all things: to whom he glory forever." 

14. You may often speak words which 
spring up, and bear fruit that reaches up to 
God ; though you do not know it, and will 
not, until in heaven you take your crown, 
and question why there are so many stars. 

Tip Lewis and His Lamp. 

" Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give 
thee a crown of life." 



10 JANUARY. 

15. The heart must understand that what- 
ever the Lord directs it intends to do, or 
there is no opening of the door for Him. 

Eigbty-Seven. 

" All that the Lord hath said loe will do, and he 
obedient." 

16. To God, nothing that an immortal 
soul can say, appears trivial, because he sees 
the waves of influence which are stirred 
years ahead by the quiet words. 

Ruth Erskine's Crosses. 

*' Words are things of little cost, 
Quickly spoken, quickly lost ; 
We forget them, but they stand 
Witnesses at God's right hand; 
And their testimony bear 
For us, or against us there." 

17. There is no place on the road so dark 
but that the Bible can light you through, if 
you try it. When you don't understand it, 
there is always Jesus to go to, you know. 

Tip Lewis and His Lamp. 

" Thy loord is a lamp unto my feet, and a light 
unto my path." 



JANUARY. 11 

18. God's son ! To go to Him, saying, 
" Father, what shall I do about this ? " and, 
" What would you advise as to that ? " 

Eighty-Seven. 
" I will he his God, and he shall be my son." 



19. God never promised to compromise 
with his own, never promised to hear a 
prayer which began with an "If." Entire 
consecration means all the " ifs " thrown 
down at the feet of the Lord for Him to 
control as He will. 

Ruth Erskine's Crosses. 

" Neverthelesstuot as I will, hut as thou wilt" 



20. Is it so strange a thing that the 
Lord can keep his own f 

Three People. 

' ' He will not sufer thy foot to he moved : Hie that 
keepeth thee loill not slumber. 

Behold, He that keepeth Israel shall neither slum- 
ber nor sleep. 

Tlie Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade 
upon thy right hand." 



12 JANUAKT. 

21. It is wonderful, after all, how rarely 
in this wicked world we meet with other 
than respect in answer to a frank avowal of 
our determination to be on the Lord's side. 

The Chaataaqaa Girls at Home. 

" Wherefore Thou art great, 0. Lord God: for 
there is none like Thee, neither is there any God 
beside TTiee, according to all that ice have heard 
with our ears." 

22 Individual effort is so necessary that 
I have thought perhaps the Holy Spirit 
tarns our thouorhts most directlv toward one 
person at a time, so that we may concentrate 
our efforts. 

A New Graft. 

" While Peter thought on the vision, the Spirit 
said unto hirn^ Behold, three men seek thee. 

Arise therefore, and get thee doirn. and go with 
them, doubting nothing : for I have sent them." 

23. I don't know how a thoughtful man 
can ever reject the idea of an overruling 
Providence. 

The Randolphs. 

" The fool hath said in his heart, Th.ere is no 
God." 



JAXUART. 13 

24. Shall you and I ever stand beside a 
new-made grave, receiving one whom we 
have known ever so slightly, and have to 
settle with our conscience and our Saviour, 
because we have not invited that one to 
come to Jesus ? 

Ester Ried. 

" And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel 
thy brother? And he said, I know not: am I my 

brother's keeper?" 

25. !N'ever mind whether you are 7ioio 

one of His children or not ; claim the place 
of a child because you need to be. and wish 
to be, and ?nea/i to be one from this moment. 

The Pocket Measure. 

" Beloved, now are we the sons of God." 

26. " She came finally to understand that 
the point was not, Was I a Christian last 
year, or last week, or even yesterday ? but, 
Do I mean to be one to-day — now ? 

The Randolphs. 

** If a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a 
branch, and is icithered ; and men gather them, and 
cast them into the lire, and th^y are burned." 



14 JANUARY. 

27. The flush had died away from Euth's 
face ; she was growing very pale. This was 
a rapid descent from the mount whereon she 
had been standing : only a moment before, 
she had felt as though earth and its com- 
monplaces could not touch her again ; be- 
cause she had been permitted for a moment 
to stand face to face with Jesus Christ. 
Yet here was the keen, cruel world at her 
very elbow ! 

Judge Burnham's Daughters. 

" In the world ye shall have tribulation : but be 
of good comfort : I have overcome the world." 



28. I don't know whether it will work 
or not; and what is more, I never shall 
know until I try. There has many a thing 
been accomplished in this world that never 
would have been, had people settled it in 
their minds that it couldn't be done before 
they had made vigorous efforts to do it. 

My Daughter Susan. 

** I can do all things through Christ which 
strengtheneth me." 



JANUARY. 15 

29. Isn't it pleasant to think that in all 
those little things He is watching over you, 
and that you make Him glad when you do 
them well ? 

Tip Lewis and His Lamp. 

^' He that is faithful in that which is least is 
faithful also in much : and he that is unjust in the 
least is unjust also in much." 

30. " Cleanse thou me from secret faults," 
prayed the inspired writer. May he not 
have meant those faults so secret that it 
takes the voice of God to reveal them to our 
hearts ? 

Ruth Erskine's Crosses. 

" For the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man 
looketh on the outward appearance, hut the Lord 
looketh on the heart." 

31. I can think of a good many things 
which we call right enough, that, measured 
by Paul's test, would have to be given up. 

The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 

^^ But take heed lest by any means this liberty of 
yours become a stumbling block to them that are 
weak." 



FEBRUARY. 

1. " Who forgiveth all thine iniquities." 
What a salvation ! Able to forgive trans- 
gression, to cover sin, to remember it no 
more. 

The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 

*' Bearing shame and scoffing rude, 
In my place condemned He stood; 
Sealed my pardon with His blood : 
Hallelujah, what a Saviour!" 

2. You can find plenty of work if you 
look for it ; only don't look too far, because 
it is the little bits of things, which come 
right in your way, that Jesus wants yon 
to do. 

Tip Lewis and His Lamp. 

''Well done, thou good and faithful servant ; thou 
hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee 
ruler over many things : enter thou into the joy of 
thy Lord." 

3. You don't know what a relief it is to 
go right to the Lord with your worries. 

The Man of the House. 

" Casting all your care upon him ; for he careth 
for you." 

16 



FEBRUARY. 17 

4. There will be no such thing as that 
hateful word '' disappointment" up in heaven, 
bless the Lord; haven't I His own word for 
it ? Didn't He say we should be satisfied ? 
I wonder what it feels like to be satisfied! 

Miss Priscilla Hunter. 

" / shall be satisfied when I awake with thy 
likeness." 

5. It did not say : '^ My grace is sufficient 
for the great and trying experiences of this 
life, but for the little every day annoyances 
and trials which tempt you — you must look 
out for yourself." It was just an unlimited 
promise. 

Ruth Erskine's Crosses. 

" God is faithfiil, who will not suffer you to he 
tempted above that ye are able; but will with the 
temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may 
be able to bear it." 

6. I take it that God permits all faithful 
service to be for His glory. 

The Randolphs. 

^^ That we should be to the praise of his glory, tcho 
first trusted in Christ." 



18 FEBKIAKV. 

7. Of course some change must come ; 
nothing ever stayed for any length of time, 
just as it was ; but what wouhi the change 
be ? It came in an unexpected manner, per- 
haps that is the common way with changes. 

Judge Burnbam's Daughters. 

"Watch ye, therefore ; for ye knoiv not tchen the 
master of the house cometh — Lest coming suddenly, 
he find you sleeping." 



8. Every woman owns a little piece of 
the world ; I do, so does everybody, why 
can^t each one look out for her own little 
corner ? 

My Daughter Susau. 

'^ Every one over against his house." 



9. It is His owix voice speaking. Go to 
Him for help, and as sure as the sun shines 
above these clouds you will get just what 
you need. 

The Pocket Measure. 
" So the Lord shall 7nake hrinht clouds." 



FEBRUARY. 10 

10. " Then said Jesus, If ye continue in 
my words, then are ye my disciples in- 
deed." Just think how far that reaches I 
All through the words of Jesus. So many 
of them, so many things to do, and so many 
not to do; and then not only to begin to 
follow them, but to continue; day after day 
getting a little farther, and knowing a little 
more. 

The Chaatanqaa Girls at Home. 

" Till tre all come in the unity of the faith, and of 
the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect 
man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness 
of Christ." 

11. In point of fact, it is not often that 
He calls upon people to make the sacrifice 
which Satan tries to push into their minds 
as a fearful one ; but whether He does or not 
is not then the question. Having allowed a 
" what if " to come into your heart, you must 
get rid of it by the determination to do what- 
ever He says, or you really cannot belong to 
Him, however much you may wish it. 

Eighty-Seven. 
*' Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it." 



20 FEBRUARY. 

12. To live so that when people spoke 
of me at all, the most marked thing they 
could say about me would be, not how I 
dressed, or appeared, or talked, but how 
strong my faith in the Lord Jesus was, 
and how it colored all my words and acts. 
Wouldn't that be a grand ambition ? 

Ruth Erskine's Crosses. 

'* And they took knowledge of them, that they had 
been with Jesus." 

d3. Suppose Christ should forgive only 
those who had treated him well ; would you 
be forgiven to-day ? 

Tip Lewis and His Lamp. 
" But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither 
will your Father forgive your trespasses." 

14. Why can't Christian people at least, 
see that they have no right to consult their 
own inclinations ? that the object is to save 
souls, and bodies, and that in every con- 
ceivable place, and at every possible time, 
when an opportunity is offered, it is their 
duty to put themselves where they will be 
sure to be counted on the right side ? 

My Daughter Susan. 
•' She hath done what she could." 



FEBRUARY. 21 

15. Are you quite happy as a Christian ? 
Do you find your love growing stronger and 
your hopes brighter from day to day ? 

Ester Ried. 
" But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our 
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." 

16. " He could not do many mighty works 
there because of their unbelief." I think 
that is what is the matter with the world 
to-day. I wonder if He would not be pleased 
with one who could throw herself at His feet 
with a childlike abandon of faith, and expect 
wonders, yes, and impossibilities, just as a 
child feels that anything can be done by 
father ? 

Ester Ried Yet Speaking. 
" If our faith were hut more simple, 

We should take Him at His word, 
And our lives w>ould he all sunshine 

In the sweetness of our Lord." 

17. My dear friend, you have really no 
right to set a different time from the one 
that your Master has set. Don't you know 
that His time is always now f 

The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 

" Behold, now is the accepted time ; behold, now is 
the day of salvation." 



22 FEBRUARY. 

18. Sometimes the people whom we meet 
but once, with whom we really have very 
little to do, are given a word to say, or an act 
to perform, that shall influence all our future 
lives. 

A New Graft. 

''What manner of persons ought ye to he in all 
holy conversation and godliness?" 

19. If somebody had only bent down to 
him, and whispered a few words, just to set 
his poor wandering feet into the narrow 
way, how blessed it would have been ! but 
nobody did. 

Ah, never mind ! God knew, and took 
care of him. 

Tip Lewis and His Lamp. 

"■And let him that heareth say, Come." 

20. Perchance that sleeping Christian 
might have been startled and aroused, could 
she have realized that days like those would 
never come back to her ; that being misspent 
they had passed away. 

Ester Ried. 

" Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the 
dead, and Christ shall give thee light." 



FEBRUARY. 23 

21. Did you never wonder that some por- 
tion some little sentence from the Bible, 
should so forcibly impress your mind, and 
so cling to you ? Perhaps you tried to drive 
it away, so much did it trouble you, but still 
it hovered around, and seemed to keep repeat- 
ing itself over and over to your heart. Be 
not deceived. This was Jesus of Nazareth 
passing by and waiting for you to say, "Jesus, 
thou Son of David, have mercy on me." 

Three People. 

" For the word of God is quick, and powerful^ and 
sharper than any two-edged sword." 



22. One mischief with Christians is, that 
when they sit down to think of these mat- 
ters, they are not personal. I am apt to 
ask whether 'people act as though they 
thought religion the most important mat- 
ter in life, instead of asking whether I 
have this day lived as though I thought 
religion the most important matter with 
which I had to do. 

An Endless Chain. 
*' Is it well with theef" 



24 FEBRUARY. 

23. Clearly if she wanted the sun, it was 
her part to open blinds and draw back cur- 
tains; clearly if she wanted mental light, 
it was her part to use the means that God 
had placed at her disposal. 

The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 

''Work out your oion salvation with fear and 
trembling. For it is God which worketh in you 
both to will and to do of his good pleasure." 

24. We are all too willing to be con- 
quered, not willing to reach after and obtain 
the settled and ever-growing joys of the 
Christian. 

Ester Ried. 

*' O that thou hadst hearkened to my command- 
ments ! then had thy peace been as a river ^ and thy 
righteousness as the waves of the sea.** 

25. Now what you need to remember, 
is, that the Lord is your father, whether 
you choose to own Him or not ; and He has 
a right to your love, and your help. 

Miss Priscilla Hunter. 

''Do ye thus requite the Lord, O foolish people 
and unwise? is not he thy father that hath bought 
thee? hath he not made thee and established thee?" 



FEBRUARY. 25 

26. Conversion is change of hearty and a 
heart given up to the reign of Christ, the 
supreme desire being to please Him, will, 
at the outset, be a very different heart from 
the one that was given up to the reign of 
self. 

A New Graft. 

" That they which live should not henceforth live 
unto themselves, hut unto him which died for them, 
and rose again." 

27. If my Christian life were so marked 
a force that all who came in contact with 
me felt its influence, it would be natural 
to speak of it, when my friends chanced to 
mention my name. 

Ruth Erskine's Crosses. 

^^ I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus." 

28. There's a thing to remember; that 
you don't belong to yourself at all ; and are 
bound to do the best you can with your 
time, and strength, and everything. 

Eighty-Seven. 

^^What, know ye not that your body is the temple 
of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of 
God, and ye are not your own?" 



26 FEBRUARY. 

29. He has infinite power, and infinite 
wisdom, and infinite forgiveness. There is 
nothing that He cannot forgive, and noth- 
ing that He cannot help you to do, if it is 
right that you should do it. I speak with 
authority, for I have tried Him ; yes, with 
better authority than that — for He has 
said it. 

The Pocket Measure. 

^^ He shall deliver thee in six troubles: yea, in 
seven there shall no evil touch thee." 



MAKCH. 

1. Did you ever tell Him all about it? 
Of course He knows, yet His direction is 
that for our own sakes we tell Him the 
story. 

Eighty-Seven. 

** Oh, leave it all with Jesus, 

Drooping soul ! 
Tell not half thy story. 

But the whole. 
Worlds on worlds are hanging 

On His hand, 
Life and death are waiting 

His command ; 
Yet His tender bosom 
Makes thee room — Oh, come home!" 

2. Don't you think that some of our 
trouble is in being content with simply 
reading, not studying the Bible ? 

Ruth Erskine's Crosses. 

" Search the scriptures ; for in them ye think ye 
have eternal life : and they are they which testify of 
me." 

27 



28 MARCH. 

3. " God will not call me to account for 
your undone work, only my own.'* 

My Daughter Susan. 

*' For the work of a man shall he render unto him, 
and cause every man to find according to his ways.'* 

4. We have need of missionaries right 
here at home ; we must evangelize the 
church of Christ, and get it to take hold 
of its privileges ! 

The Pocket Measure. 

" He that hath an ear let him hear vjhat the Spirit 
saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh 
will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and icill give 
him a white stone, and in the stone a new name 
written, which no man knoweth save he that receiv- 
eth it." 

5. Is it possible that I have been one of 
those faithless disciples, rebuking, or at least 
ignoring, the presence of one of His little 
ones, while I reached out after fruit that I 
dared to think was of more importance ! 

A New Graft. 

*♦ Atid whoso shall receive one such little child in 
my name,receiveth me.'* 



MARCH. 29 

6. It doesn't seem to me that it is money, 
or time, or strength, or talent, that is lacking, 
it is the consecrated heart. A heart that is 
given first to Christ, and secondly, to His 
work, whatever form it may take, or what- 
ever may be the door that opens. 

My Daughter Susan. 

" And who then is vnlling to consecrate his service 
this dag unto the Lord? " 

7. Isn't it strange that the followers of 
Christ will go on, year after year, bending a 
listening ear to Satan, while he rings the 
changes of that old, long-ago vanished false- 
hood, '' If thou be the Son of God ? " 

A New Graft. 

" Above all, taking the shield of faith, loherewith 
ye shall he able to quench all the fiery darts of the 
wicked.'* 

8. " To the saints and faithful brethren 
in Christ which are at Colosse." Suppose 
we had been living at Colosse in those 
days, could we have claimed that letter to 
the saints ? 

Ruth Erskine's Crosses. 
" Beloved of God, called to be saints." 



30 MARCH. 

9. The man who seems to me the most 
worthy of contempt, is the one who has 
not sufficient moral courage to break a 
promise after he discovers that it ought 
never to have been made. 

An Endless Chain. 

'* Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, 
the people in lohose heart is my law ; fear ye not 
the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their 
revilings." 

10. We haven't to do anything about it 
until to-morrow ; perhaps to-morrow will 
have a light of its own for our direction. 

Ester Ried Yet Speaking. 

'* Take therefore no thought for the morroio ; for 
the morrow shall take thought for the things of 
itself, /Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." 

11. We depend too much on tact and too 
little on God's spirit. " Open thy mouth 
and I will fill it," is a promise that applies 
to more places than a prayer meeting, I 
think. 

The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 

** Noiv therefore go, and Iicill be icith thy mouth, 
and teach thee what thou shalt say." 



MARCH. 31 

12. '^ I do not wonder that, looking at me, 
you have grown into the habit of thinking 
that there is nothing in religion," she said. 
" You have looked at me, not at Jesus, and 
there has been no reflection of his beauty 
in me, as there should have been, and the 
result is not strange." 

Ester Ried. 

" But we all, with open face beholding as in a 
glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same 
image from glory to glory, even as by the spirit of 
the Lord." 

13. I know I love the Lord, and I know 
that he will not destroy me, for I have in 
my heart the assurance of His promise. 

Ruth Erskine's Crosses. 

" The Lord preserveth all them that love him : but 
all the wicked will he destroy." 

14. You will find that it needs precisely 
the same help to meet trifles that it does to 
conquer mountains of difliculty. The differ- 
ence is in degree, not in kind. 

Ester Ried. 

" Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of 
the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence." 



82 MARCH. 

16. "Commit thy way unto the Lord." 
How much pleasanter it would have been to 
have committed it in the first place, before 
I wearied my heart with worrying over 
what I could not lift my finger to make 
different ! 

The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 

holy trust ! O endless sense of rest ! 
Like the beloved John 
To lay his head upon the Saviour's breast, 
And then to journey on." 

16. I believe a consecrated life will be 
honored by the Lord in whatever channel 
He gives it talents to develop. 

Ester Ried Yet Speaking. 

*' Say ye to the righteous that it shall be well 
tcith him." 

17. If people only icould influence each 
other just as much as they could, and just 
as high as they could, what a wonderful 
thing this living would be I 

A New Graft. 

" That ye may be blameless and harmless, the 
sons of God^ without rebuke, in the midst of a 
crooked and perverse nation, among xohom ye shine 
as lights in the world." 



MARCH. 33 

18. There are ten thousand little things 
no more important in themselves than brush- 
ing out troublesome flies, or shutting out 
glaring sunlight, or tidying a slovenly wash- 
stand, or cooling a burning forehead, which 
can be used as nets wherewith to catch 
poor, tired, homesick fish. 

An Endless Chain. 

^^ And Jes2is said unto them, Come ye after me, 
and I will make you to become fishers of men." 

19. Dear friend, whatever you are, no 
matter what mistakes you have made, no 
matter how unfit you feel, you are dear to 
Christ at this moment: He loves you and 
waits for you. 

The Pocket Measure. 

^^ I have loved thee with an everlasting love : there- 
fore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee." 

20. Softly there came another voice. 
" What of all that ? '' it said ; '^ suppose 
nobody cares for you, or helps you here. 
Jesus died, you know, and He is your friend." 

Tip Lewis and Ilis Lamp. 

" If God he for us who can he against us? " 



34 MARCH. 

21. I have an all-absorbing, a consuming 
ambition ; it is to have the King put His 
hand on mine, and say, " Well done, good 
and faithful servant." I shall not be con- 
tent without the commendation promised 
to those who faithfully serve ; my ambition 
craves it. 

My Daughter Susan. 

"7m the light of the kiiKfs countenance is life; 
and his favor is as a cloud of the latter rain." 

22. Of course you cannot help these 
bitter feelings ; do you suppose He expects 
you to do so ? If you could make your 
heart right yourself, where would be the 
need of His help ? 

Eighty-Seven. 

" my God, incline thine ear, and hear ; . . . 
for we do not present our supplications before thee 
for our righteousness, hut for thy great mercies." 

23. It is grand to think that even the 
street-car driver can drive for the glory of 
God. 

The Randolphs. 

^^ And luhatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in 
the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God 
and the Father by him." 



MARCH. 35 

24. "Do with thy might whatsoever thy 
hand findeth to do," is our commission, 
you know, and in order to find things, we 
have to look for them. 

My Daughter Susan. 

" And what doth the Lord require of thee, but to 
do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly 
with thy God?" 

25. If I belong to Christ, I belong^ don't 
I ? There is no half-way service possible. 
Why do I not so look that others take 
knowledge of me that I have been with 
Jesus ? 

Ester Ried Yet Speaking. 

" Because that which may be known f>f God is 
manifest in them; for God hath showed it unto 
them." 

26. Is it right for any servant of the 
King to mingle familiarly for an afternoon 
with others who either are, or should be, 
loyal subjects, and not make a definite im- 
pression for the King ? 

A Xew Graft. 

" Only let your conversation be as becometh the 
Gospel of Christ " 



36 MARCH. 

27. If one would be sympathetic with 
his kind, there is this thing always to re- 
member : it is much easier to sit in a quiet 
room, surrounded with an atmosphere of 
peace, and talk about the petty trials of 
others, and the duty of bearing them cheer- 
fully, than it is to belong to that other com- 
pany who are at that moment in the heat of 
the conflict between duty and inclination. 

Eighty-Seven. 

" We then that are strong onght to hear the in- 
firmities of them that are tveak, and not to please 
ourselves." 



28. Dear friend, I think you know where 
to look for help, no matter what your trial 
or burden ; whether it be great or very 
small, He is equally ready to have it brought 
to Him and left there. Why don't you ask 
His help ? You are one of His own. 

The Pocket Measure. 

** T7ie Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty ; 
he icill save, he will rejoice over thee with joy ; 
he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with 
singing.'^ 



MARCH. 37 

29. Hereafter when I feel particularly 
tried with a person, I shall know that I am 
myself at fault toward that person, and 
shall ask God for a special view of my own 
heart concerning it. 

An Endless Chain. 
"■ Benew a right spirit within me" 

30. A great deal of money and a great 
deal of force, Avhich might do wonders else- 
where, are wasted on dress. 

Ruth Erskine's Crosses. 

" Wliose adorning let it not be that oittimrd 
adorning of Xilaiting the hair, and of wearing of 
gold, or of putting on of apparel." 

31. The fact is, that to sit in a pleasant 
room, among one's friends, and discuss the 
inconsistencies of Christians, is one thing; 
and to go out into the world in the thick of 
the fight, and live consistently, is quite 
another. 

An Endless Chain. 

"5e watchfid, and strengthen the things ichicJi 
remain, that are ready to die : for I have not found 
thy works perfect before God." 



APKIL. 

1. How many springtimes have you gone 
to your bed feeling that the season was late, 
and the trees were bare, and the fruits would 
all be backward, and Nature was dawdling 
along in a very wearisome fashion ; and 
awakened in the morning to find that there 
had in the night been a gentle rain, and a 
movement of mysterious power among the 
buds and grasses, and that now in the morn- 
ing sunshine, the world had burst into 
bloom ? Yet, did you really suppose, after 
all, that the work was done in one night ? 

Ester Ried Yet Speaking. 

" For as the earth bring eth forth her bud, and the 
garden causeth the things that are sown in it to 
spring forth ; so the Lord God will cause righteous- 
ness and praise to spring forth before all the 
nations." 

2. Since God has called us to honorable 
positions, even to be " co-laborers," shall we 
not rejoice in the honor ? 

A New Graft. 

" For we are laborers together with God." 
38 



APRIL. 39 

3. It is my joy that He has not separated 
any moment of my life from Him, saying, 
"Here is so much drudgery each day, from 
which I must be entirely separated ; then, 
when that is done, you may serve me." 
Work so divided would be drudgery indeed. 

A New Graft. 

^^ For in Jiim we live, and move, ami have our 
being." 

4. How many people have such marked 
and abiding faith in Christ Jesus, that wlien 
we talk of them we say, " I heard that Miss 
So and So had the most implicit faith in 
the power of Christ to keep her " ? Now 
wouldn't that be a strange thing to say ? 

Ruth Erskine's Crosses. 
"TFe heard of your faith in Christ Jesus." 

5. A great sorrow is a wonderful edu- 
cator. 

The Randolphs. 

" For it became him, for whom are all things, and 
by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto 
glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect 
through sufferings." 



40 APRIL. 

6. It is, perhaps, to be questioned 
whether loneliness is, after all, demoralizing 
in its effects. 

The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 

" Novj no chastening for the present s<^emeth to he 
joyous, hut grievous : nevertheless afterward it 
yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto 
them which are exercised therehy." 

7. What a thing it would be to be high 
in favor with God; to be so familiar at 
court that you could present a friend there, 
without a fear or doubt as to the result. 

The Randolphs. 

" Elias xoas a man subject to like passions as toe 
are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain : 
and it rained not on the earth hy the space of three 
years and six months. 

And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, 
and the earth hrought forth her fruit." 

8. It is possible that you have not come 
in close contact with Christ's intimate 
friends. There are degrees in friendship, 
you know. 

An Endless Chnin. 

*• Te are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I com- 
mand you." 



APRIL. 41 

9. "In my Father's house are many 
mansions ; I go to prepare a place for you," 

After all, that is the place for brightness. 
This is only a way station ; never mind the 
discomforts, so that many are helped to the 
right road and the home be reached at last, 
in peace. 

The Chautauqua Girls at Ilome. 

" TF7ie;i the shore is won at last, 
Who icill count the billows past ?" 

10. Unpaid vows ! — only think of it. 
Isn't it startling when we remember to whom 
they are due ? 

The Randolphs. 

"TFAen thou voicest a vow unto God, defer not to 
pay it ; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that 
which thou hast vowed." 

11. That very kettle which gives you 
Monday morning trouble can help you to 
a first victory : and it is a symbol of all 
the other things, small in themselves, but 
amounting to much, counted together, that 
can be made to serve you to-day. 

A New Graft. 

" And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my 
name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted." 



42 APRIL. 

12. He made the plants and flowers — 
created their beauty for them, I mean, be- 
cause they are soulless things — He left to 
us who are immortal, a great deal of the 
fashioning to do for ourselves. 

Kuth Erskine's Crosses. 

^'Finally, brethren, ichatsoever things are true, 
ichatsoever things are honest, icJiatsoever things are 
just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things 
are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report ; 
if there he any virtue, and if there be any praise, 
think on these things." 

13. AMiat we need most to overcome is 
the idea that there is anything wicked in 
talking about religion in an everyday tone, 
as we talk about other topics of absorbing 
interest. 

The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
" Talk ye of all his wondrous works." 

14. If the Lord Jesus Christ can forgive 
him, I think we ought to be able to do so." 

Ruth Erskine's Crosses. 

" And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, 
forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake 
hath forgiven you." 



APRIL. 43 

15. Isn't it all different forms of the 
Master's work ? The children of the home 
may have each a different task, but each is 
needed to make the home what it should be, 
and each worker needs the same spirit of 
love and unselfishness to enable him to do 
his part. 

Ester Hied Yet Speaking. 

^^ For as we have many members in one body, and 
all members have not the same office : 

So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and 
every one members one of another." 

16. A Christian home ! It cannot simply 
mean a home where Christ is honored. It 
rather means a home where everything per- 
taining to it serves His cause. The very 
furniture, and the light and the brightness 
are made to do duty for Him, else they have 
no place there. What is there that I can 
do with all the beauties of my parlors ? 

Ester Ried Yet Speaking. 

*' For none of us liveth to himself, and no man 
dieth to himself. 

For whether we live, toe live unto the Lord : and 
whether we die, ice die unto the Lord: whether we 
live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's.'^ 



44 APRIL. 

17. What an immense book the history 
of a human life would make ! Probably no 
one will ever know how large a volume it 
would be, for no one will ever write it. 

The Pocket Measure. 

^^ And there are also many other things which 
Jesus did, the ichich, if they should be written every 
one, I suppose that even the world itself could not 
contain the books that should be written." 

18. If we want to hear how living, grow- 
ing Christians talk, we must frequent the 
places where we shall be likely to find them. 

An Endless Chain. 

" Then they that feared the Lord spake often one 
to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, 
and a book of remembrance was written before him 
for them that feared the Lord, and that thought 
upon his name." 

19. The One who made such lovely plants 
and finished them so exquisitely, must be 
pleased to see us study enough of His works 
to make ourselves look pleasing to the eyes 
of others. 

Ruth Erskine's Crosses. 
" He hath made everything beautiful in his time." 



APRIL. 45 

20. He made some mistakes ; for he 
fancied, in his ignorance, that the strnggle 
was over — that he had only to go forward 
joyfully over a pleasant road. 

He found out his mistake ; he discovered 
that Satan had not by any means given him 
up ; that he must yet fight many hard, hard 
battles. 

Tip Lewis and His Lamp. 

" Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal 
life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast pro- 
fessed a good profession before many witnesses." 



21. I wonder when the world will learn 
that promises are solemn things, and that 
living is serious business, and that when 
we are young we are not called upon to de- 
cide questions which belong to mature 
judgments. 

The Randolphs. 

^^ Bejoice, young man, in thy youth; and let 
thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and 
walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of 
thine eyes : but know thou, for all these things God 
will bring thee into judgment." 



4(3 Al'KlL. 

22. *' Go ye into all the avovIiI and preach 
the Gospel to every creature." In the same 
breath, to comfort His children, He said, 
" Lo, I am with you ahvay, even unto the 
end of the world." The disciples to whom 
He then spoke, have been in His visible 
presence for hundreds of years, and the 
world is not yet ended ; the comfort lasts 
yet, and so, therefore, must the commission. 

The Pocket Measure. 

" 3/y heart repeats the promise o'er and o^er^ 

Though 'tis an ' old, old stonj' heard before. 

Yet in'th each dear repeating loved the more. 

Be lighted from within, by nnseen Guest, 

Send out warm rays of love to all distrest. 

And lure them by your shining into rest." 

23. Do I think you can so love Christ 
that whatever sacrifices of personal ease or 
comfort you may make for His sake will 
become so much a jcn' as to cease to be 
claimed under the head of sacrifice ? 

Aye, indeed, there is a higher plane than 
sacrifice. 

The Pocket Measure. 
" Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him 
nnt be ashamed ; but let him glorify God on this 
behalf." 



APRIL. 47 

24. When a sensiVjle person has made a 
misstep, the thing for him is to undo as 
much of the mischief as he can ; as quickly 
as he can ; it is the only way he has of 
showing the difference between himself and 
a fool. 

Eighty-Seven. 

^* The icay of a fool is right in his own eyes: hut 
he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise." 

" Ilath not God made foolish the wisdom of this 
world ?" 

25. We must guard against a temptation 
to do evil, that good may come. 

The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 

*' What shall we say then, Shall we continue in 
sin, that grace may abound 9 

God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, 
live any longer therein V 

26. There are a great many sensible peo- 
ple in the world, and the world does not 
love them at all, and half of the time it is 
their own foolish fault for being so " cranky " 
over trifles. 

The Randolphs. 
" Foryepay titheofmint and anise and cummin." 



48 APKIL. 

27. If I were to talk with one of my 
friends who is not acquainted with you, 
and tell her how kind you were, and how 
interested in all young people, and how 
pleasant and helpful you were, it doesn't 
seem to me that I should prejudice her 
against you. AVhy should I feel afraid of 
prejudicing them against my Saviour ? 

A New Graft. 
" Acquaint now thyself vnth him, and be at peace : 
thereby good shall come unto thee.'' 

28. Knowing that you ought to feel dif- 
ferently, there is just one thing you can do, 
it is your part; you can give that heart 
which is full of hard feelings and self-will 
and bitterness, into the Lord's hands, and 
tell Him you want it to be made a fit place 
for him. 

Eighty-Seven. 
" Purge me icith hyssop, and I shall be clean : 
luash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." 

29. AVhen I am conversing with any 
person what is my habitual theme ? 

An Endless Chain. 

" What manner of communications are these that 
ye have one to another ? " 



APRIL. 49 

30. How hard it must be for the Great 
Physician to bear with us in our determina- 
tion to think of His love and care for us as 
only a piece of that which He bears for the 
great multitudes, instead of individualizing 
it as He constantly teaches us to do, and 
accepting Him as caring for us with even 
more of the exclusive tenderness of love 
which we give to our own. 

The Pocket Measure. 

'■^ I have called thee by thy name ; thou art mine." 



MAY. 

1. What gorgeous coloring and delicate 
tracery in the leaves ! Does it ever occur 
to you to wonder that such great skill should 
have been expended in just making them 
look pretty to please our eyes ? 

Ruth Erskine's Crosses. 

'■'■Sing unto him, sing j^salms unto him: talk ye 
of all his wondrous works."'' 

2. •' Who sweeps a room as for thy law, 

Makes that, and the action, fine." 

I am glad the grand old author said that. 
And yet, an older and grander Author said 
it better : " Whosoever giveth a cup of cold 
water." 

My Daughter Susan. 
" Thy thoughts are very deep." 

3. What if the Holy Spirit has sug- 
gested it, and will give you a message v^-hich 
He knows can reach a stranger, and draw 
him home ? 

Eighty-Seven. 
" Tliou gavest also thy good spirit to instruct 

them." 

50 



MAY. 51 

4. And you think that Jesus Christ has 
nothing to do with the black kettle, and the 
boiler, or the sink, or a dozen other things 
with which you will come in contact to- 
day ? That is such a mistake. Kemember 
it is He who said, " Whether therefore ye 
eat, or drink, or lo/tatsoever ye do, do all to 
the glory of God." 

A New Graft. 

" For 7/o7ir heavenly Father knoweth that ye have 
need of all these things." 

5. Jastified! Not because I have done 
right ; not because my judgment is correct ; 
not because of any act of mine in any direc- 
tion save that one of trusting in my Lord, 
justified by faith ! 

Ruth Erskine's Crosses. 

*' Therefore being justified by faith, ive have peace 
with God through oiir Lord Jesus Christ." 

6. What should you conclude as to 
Christian duty in the matter of daily con- 
versation ? 

The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 

*' But as he which hath called you is holy, so be 
ye holy in all manner of conversation." 



52 MAY. 

7. It is a strange thing, but hoAv can we 
help believing it to be actually the case, 
that people who would be shocked at the 
idea of violating their word given to their 
fellow-men yet seem to ignore, without much 
trouble of conscience, the most solemn obli- 
gation made to God ! 

The Randolphs. 

" TaTie heed nnto yourselves, lest you forget the 
covenant of the Lord your God." 

8. There is a sunlight so high and strong 
that the clouds of this world cannot reach 
it. 

Links in Rebecca's Life. 

"But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priest- 
hood, aholy nation, a peculiar people ; that ye should 
shew forth the praises of him who hath called you 
out of darkness into his marvelous light." 

9. I try to remember that Christ knows 
it all, and he loves me, and he is all-power- 
ful ; and yet he leads me through this dark 
road ; therefore it must be right. 

Ester Ried. 

" Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth 
sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that 
are his." 



MAY. 63 

10. He will not come into a divided 
heart ; a heart which says, " In some things 
I Avill obey ; but in this, and this, and this, 
I must have my own way." 

You would not expect even a human friend 
who had the right to direct you, to accept 
such a position as that, would you ? How 
much less the Lord ? 

Eighty-Seven. 

" Xo man can serve two masters: for either he 
it'ill hate the one and love the other ; or else he will 
hold to the one and despise the other. Te cannot 
serve God and mammon." 



11. I believe that religion should have 
sufficient power over us to change all our 
tastes and plans in life, fitting them to the 
Saviour's use. 

Ester Ried Yet Speaking. 

" That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; 
that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 

May be able to comprehend with all saints what 
is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height ; 

And to knoio the love of Christ which passeth 
knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the full- 
ness of God." 



64 MAY. 

12. One could not live long in this world 
without realizing the forcefulness of the 
sentence : " Every heart knoweth its own 
bitterness." Behind the sunniest, appar- 
ently most enviable life, the bitterness 
hides. 

Ruth Erskine's Crosses. 

•' ]V?ien thou passest thro^igh the waters, I will he 
with thee: lohen thou walkest through the fire, thou 
shalt not he burned; neither shall the flame kindle 
upon thee." 

13. Will you open the door for Jesus to 
come in, by telling Him that your heart is 
all wrong, and you want it made right? 
Just as you would tell me, if I had assured 
you that I was both able and willing to do 
all the rest for you. 

Eighty-Seven. 
•• And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of 
God, and into the patient waiting for Christ." 

14. Are these too small for His notice, 
when He Himself refers us to the fading 
wild flowers for lessons ? 

A New Graft. 
" The grass withereth, and the flower thereof 
falleth away : 

But the word of the Lord endureth forever." 



MAY. 55 

15. He sees the way plainly and He will 
lead us right through the thickets to the 
sunlight of his eternal presence. 

Ruth Erskine's Crosses. 

" But there the glorious Lord icill be to us aj^lcice 
of broad rivers and streams ; wherein shall no gal- 
ley icith oars, neither shall gallant s7u):is pass 
thereby.'' 

16. I really believe that the Lord, when 
He said, " Give, and it shall be given unto 
you, good measure, pressed down and shaken 
together, and running over, shall men give 
into your bosom," meant just what he said. 

The Pocket Measure. 

'* There hath not failed one loord of all his good 
promise." 

17. " She impresses me as one who is 
being led ; who does not choose to go alone, 
has not learned how, indeed. A very few 
Christians never learn how, and with them 
the Lord does his special work." 

Ester Ried Yet Speakmg. 

" The secret of the Lord is with them that fear 
him : and he will shoiv them his covenant." 



lj() MAY. 

18. There may be loneliness and a reach- 
ing out after, and sometimes an unutterable 
longing for the morning, but to those who 
are sure, sure beyond the possibility of a 
doubt, that the eternal morning will dawn, 
and dawn for them, there is never again a 
desolation. 

The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 

''Wce2)in(/ may endure for a night, hut joy cometh 
in the morning." 



19. It is God's world, and He made your 
little children. You may be sure He has a 
place for them, both in this world and in 
Heaven. 

An Endless Chain. 

^^ Fear not, little flock ; for it is your Father's 
good pleasure to give you the kingdom" 



20. Oh ! to know for a certainty whether 
some who have a name to live, are really 
alive; and so be at rest about them. 

The Randolphs. 

*' I have no greater joy than to hear that my chil- 
dren loalk in truth." 



MAY. 57 

21. She envied their free and easy life, 
without a care to harass them, as it seemed 
to her. 

If she had but thought, she had a robe, 
and a crown, and a harp, and a place wait- 
ing for her, up before the throne of God j 
and all they had not. 

Ester Ried. 

" Henceforth there is laid vp for me a crown of 
righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge^ 
shall give me at that day : and not to me only, but 
unto all them also that love his appearing." 

22. If God from his infinite height, can 
look down upon all the world, having the 
same wonderful, patient, persistent love for 
all mankind, what am I that I should not 
give my utmost strength for the poorest and 
meanest of His creatures ? 

An Endless Chain. 

'■'■For if there come into your assembly a man 
with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come 
in also a poor 'man in vile raiment; 

And ye have resp>ect to him that toeareth the gay 
clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good 
place ; and say to the poor. Stand thou there, or sit 
here under my footstool : Are ye not then partial in 
yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts ?" 



58 MAY. 

23. We are all set apart, given to Him 
to use as He will. The trouble is that so 
many of us take back the gifts, and use our 
time and our tongues as though they were 
our own. 

Ester Ricd Yet Speaking. 
" Ye are not your own. 

" For ye are bought icith a price : therefore glorify 

God in your body, and in your spirit, ^chich are 

God's." 

24. A thing that can possibly lead one 
to eternal death, a Christian has no business 
to meddle with, even if he knows of but one 
soul in a million years that has been so 
wrecked. 

The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
^^ And through thy knowledge shall the iceak 
brother perish, for whom Christ died 9 " 

2o. I am not giving my own money ; it 
is His, and He lets me spend it on His work. 
If it Avere mine I might be tempted to spend 
it on myself; but since it belongs to Him, of 
course it is a mere act of common honesty 
to give it back to Him. 

The Pocket Measure. 
" The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saitJi 
the Lord of Hosts." 



MAY. 59 

26. Isn't it a pity in this carping world 
we cannot oftener put ourselves in other 
people's places, mentally, at least, and try 
to discover how we should probably feel, 
and talk, and act, were we surrounded by 
their circumstances and biased by their 
educations ? 

A New Graft. 

^^ Bejoice xoith them that do rejoice^ and weep 
with them that weep." 

27. When we do not see the way clearly ; 
when we are beset with difficulties ; when 
disappointments thicken around us, we can 
still look up to God and say, " Up there, 
where Father is, it is peace." 

Kuth Erskine's Crosses. 

" And the peace of God, ichich passeth all under- 
standing, shall keep your hearts and minds through 
Christ Jesus." 

28. It would be a pity to get ready for 
only one world when the other is so near by. 

Eighty-Seven. 

" Provide yourself hags which vmx not old, a 
treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no 
thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth." 



60 MAY. 

29. We are at work for immortal souls. 
Think of it ! they 7nust live forever. Shall 
they, through all eternity, keep dropping 
lower and lower, or shall they wear crowns ? 

Ester Ried Yet Speaking. 
** And many of them that sleep in the dust of the 
earth shall awake^ some to everlasting life, and some 
to shame and everlasting contempt." 

30. It is the trifling sacrifices that pinch. 
One can do a great thing now and then, that 
he knows people will admire, even though 
he has no such selfish motive in doing it, 
still it helps and cheers, to know that an 
appreciative world looks on and says : " That 
was well done ! " But to go without a new 
dress all winter — to go to church, and to 
society, and occasionally to a tea-party, wear- 
ing the cashmere or alpaca that has done 
duty as best for two years, and do it for the 
sake of the church, and say nothing about 
it, and know that people are ignorant of the 
reason, and feel that they are wondering 
whether you are aware that your dress be- 
gins to look "rusty" — that is sacrifice. 

Miss Priscilla Hunter. 
" She shall he brought unto the king in raiment 
of needlework." 



MAY. 61 

31. Yoii speak the truth earnestly, for- 
cibly, and with strong common sense on 
your side, but the verse says, ^'speaking 
the truth in love.'" And don't you know 
that that part of it you have a way of keep- 
ing hidden in your heart, so that the truth 
sometimes wounds where you would have it 
heal? 

The Randolphs. 

'* By pureness, by knowledge, by longsiiffering, by 
kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned." 



JUNE. 

1. Some of our dear Christian ladies 
have but just heard a faint echo of His 
call, " Go ye into all the world," though it 
has been sounding for centuries. There are 
many of them standing now on the thresh- 
old, dazed with the echo, scarcely knowing 
if it can possibly mean them, and seeing 
sacrifice and burden where one day they 
will "count it all joy." 

The Pocket Measure. 
' I dare not ivork my soul to save, 
Tliat work my Lord has done ; 
But I will work like any slave 
For the love of God's dear Son.'* 

2. Graves seem to me hard things to 
leave. People who are alive, and from 
whom I can hear, and to whom I can write 
long letters, are different ; but, someway, one 
holds on to graves and wants to be near them. 

The Randolphs. 
" Then the disciples went aivay unto their own 
home. But Mary stood without at the sepulchre 
weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and 
looked into the sepulchre." 

62 



JUNE. 63 

3. I wonder if people realize that they 
can arrange flowers in such a manner as to 
glorify the Lord of the garden. 

My Daughter Susan. 
" Let my beloved come into his garden." 

4. Just think of that ivy, it would have 
grown as rapidly and been quite as healthy 
if the leaves had been square, and all of 
them an intense green, instead of being 
shaded into that lovely dark scalloped bor- 
der all around the outer edge. 

Ruth Erskine's Crosses. 

*' Lord, how manifold are thy works! in xois- 
dom hast thou made them all : the earth is full of 
thy riches." 

5. It seems blessed to think that the 
Lord Jesus took such minute notice of our 
human nature that he knew it would help 
us to be allowed to keep a subject constantly 
before Him, and to keep coaxing about it. 

Ruth Erskine's Crosses. 

" / say unto you, Though he loill not rise and 
give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his 
importunity he will rise and give him as many as 
he needeth." 



64 JUNE. 

6. The Lord sees the heart; and little 
seeds of loving kindness to one's neighbor, 
whether he be next door or across the ocean, 
may be in many hearts, unknown to us. 

The Pocket Measure. 

^^ For the Lord searcheth all hearts, and under- 
standeth all the imaginations of the thoughts." 

7. I have often looked forward to an 
evening gathering with eager interest and 
thankfulness, because of the opportunity 
for meeting some there whom I could not 
catch elsewhere and saying a word for my 
Master. 

The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 

" In the morning soiv thy seed, and in the evening 
withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not 
ivhether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether 
they both shall he alike good." 

8. Was it possible that the Divine Phy- 
sician saw her need of such bitter herbs as 
these which had fallen to her lot ? 

Ruth Erskine's Crosses. 

" As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten; be 
zealous, therefore, and rep)ent." 



JUNE. 65 

9. You and I know and feel that we 
must give an account of our stewardship. 
Do you see how people who ask God to 
help them in every little thing which they 
have to decide — in the least expenditure of 
money — can after that deliberately fritter 
it away ? 

Ester Ried. 

''So then every one of us shall give account of 
himself to God." 

10. The heart of Christ is for each, as if 
each were alone in all the world the object 
of His care. 

The Pocket Measui-e. 
" Yet will I not forget thee." 

11. It was pitiful to see how she clung 
to her poor little rag that she had called 
religion, and felt as though if she should 
actually let go and say, " I am not a Chris- 
tian," it would be a settled doom to her, 
and yet — how could it be that she knew 
anything experimentally about this matter, 
to have lived the life she had ? 

The Randolphs. 

'' Iknow thy works, that thou hast a name that 
thou livest, and art dead." 



66 JUNE. 

12. Do you think that Christians whose 
rule of life reads " AYhatsoever ye do, do all 
to the glory of God," have any right to go 
to social gatherings, or anywhere else, sepa- 
rated from this end ? 

The Pocket Measure. 

" In all thy imys acknowledge him, and he shall 
direct thy paths." 

13. Didn't you give Him your tongue 
when you gave Him yourself ? And yet 
you are fortunate if you have not dis- 
honored Him with it many a time. 

Ester Ried Yet Speaking. 

" Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine 
heart be hasty to utter anything before God: for 
God is in heaven, and thou upon earth : therefore 
let thy words be few." 

14. It is easier to do things which you 
like, and which in a sense are natural to 
you, than it is to do what goes utterly 
against the selfish side of your nature. 

Eighty -Seven. 

" For all seek their own, not the things which are 
Jesus Christ's." 



JUNE. 67 

15. " Who shall roll us away the stone ? '' 
They worried a great deal about that stone, 
how they would get it rolled away, and 
when they got there it was gone. I'll re- 
member that ; when I see a stone ahead of 
me I won't stop and fret about it ; I'll walk 
straight up to it, and when I get there 
maybe it will roll out of my way. 

Tip Lewis and His Lamp. 

" The angel of the Lord descended from heaven, 
and came and rolled hack the stone from the door, 
and sat upon it." 



16. They aren't worth lifting a finger 
for. And yet, how can I help remembering 
that if the Lord Jesus had said that of us, 
and stayed up there in His glory, we should 
have been utterly without help or hope 
to-day ? 

Ester Ried Yet Speaking. 

" For scarcely for a righteous man will one die : 
yet peradventure for a good man some would even 
dare to die. 

But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, 
vjhile we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." 



6S JUNE. 

17. "He maketh the wrath of man to 
praise him." 

I suppose He can make the blimderings 
of men, and of women, too, do the same. 
We must just leave it with Jlim, and try 
again. 

An Endless Chain. 

" Who shall change our vile body, that it may be 
fashioned like 2into his glorious body, according to 
the working ichereby he is able even to subdue all 
things unto himself." 

18. An awakened conscience toyed with, 
is a very fruitful source of misery. 

The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 

''And herein do I exercise myself, to have always 
a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward 
men." 

19. I bless Him that I may constantly 
serve, whether I am wiping the dust from 
my table, or whether I am on my knees. 

A New Graft. 

" With good will, doing service, as to the Lord, 
and not to men." 



JUNE. 69 

20. ^' My grace is sufficient," not for my 
saints only — those who have been faithful 
and successful — but for thee. 

Ruth Erskine's Crosses. 

*' Fear thou not ; for I am with thee : he not dis- 
mayed ; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; 
yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold the", with 
the right hand of my righteousness." 

21. I doubt whether we should wait 
always for clear ways ; perhaps we are ex- 
pected to go creeping along in the dark. 
Satan has ways, and doesn't scruple to use 
them. 

Aa Endless Chain. 

'^ For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right 
hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I ivill help 
thee." 

22. "Leaving us an example, that ye 
should follow his steps." The true pattern 
is certainly perfect ; why not follow that ? 
Who ever asks the schoolboy to imitate the 
scrawl of some fellow pupil, so long as the 
perfect copy is just before his eyes, at the 
top of the page ? 

A New Graft. 
" Be ye followers of God, as dear children." 



70 JUNE. 

23. Nothing that you or I can do can 
possibly make one sin white, one mistake 
as though it had not been, give one moment 
of rest to a troubled heart. But the blood 
of Jesus Christ can do all this. 

The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 

" The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us 
from all sin." 

24. She did not realize the feeling, and 
yet she possessed somewhat of the same 
spirit of the child who prayed : " Dear 
Jesus, help me to be good to-day. I know 
I can be good if I try, and I intend to try, 
but you can help me if you want to ! " 

Ruth Erskme's Crosses. 

" For thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in 
safety." 

25. I have met people who, it seemed to 
me, would rather trust their "rainy day 
fund " than the Lord. 

The Pocket Measure. 

"ijf / have made gold my hope, or have said to 
the fine gold, Thou art my confidence : This also 
were an iniquity to he punished by the judge : for I 
should have denied the God that is above." 



JUNE. 71 

26. I should never have dared to assume 
the cares and responsibilities of our home 
if I had not known that I could go to Christ 
for direction as to how to wisely spend the 
money He put into my hands, and how to 
order all my affairs so that there would be 
no friction. 

The Pocket Measure. 

" Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall 
sustain thee : he shall never suffer the righteous to 
be moved." 



27. The veriest child can be a witness if 
he knows any thing about the facts ; and I 
do certainly know some wonderful things 
about Jesus to which I could witness ; and 
besides, isn't it reasonable to suppose that 
He will appear to me every day with things 
for me to witness to ? 

Ester Ried Yet Speaking. 

"7 have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to 
make thee a minister and a witness, both of these 
things which thou hast seen, and of those things in 
which I will appear unto thee." 



72 JUNE. 

28. Rewards for petty sacrifices are often 
so slow to come that it is not nncommon for 
lives to pass out into the future without 
receiving a word or glance of recompense. 
But there are occasional other experiences. 

Eighty-Seven. 

" Therefore, my beloved brethren, he ye steadfast, 
immovable, alvmys abounding in the v^ork of the 
Lord, for as much as ye know that your labor is not 
in vain in the Lord.'' 

29. It is a question whether we have 
any right to indulge in an amusement that 
has the power to lead people astray, espe- 
cially when it is impossible to tell what 
boy may be growing up under that influence 
to whom it will become a snare. 

The Chautauqua Gii-ls at Home. 

" It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, 
nor anything whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is 
offended, or is made loeak.'' 

30. You mustn't quarrel with the Lord's 
plans of work, until you understand more 
about them. By the way, I presume He 
has a plan for you to work by, that you have 
never so much as looked into. It is a aub- 
ject entirely worthy of your consideration. 

An Endless Chain. 
" But know that the Lord hath set apart him that 
is godly for himself." 



JULY. 

1. Your soul, rememberj was worth the 
death of the Son of God. See that you 
make your life worthy such a sacrifice as 
that. 

Household Puzzles. 

" For as much as ye know that ye were not re- 
deemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, 
from your vain conversation received by tradition 
^rem your fathers ; 

But ivith the precious blood of Christ, as of a 
lamb vnthout blemish and without spot." 

2. It cannot be possible that you think 
when a waiting soul asks you to pray, Christ 
does not say to you, '^ Do it " ? 

The Randolphs. 
'^ And it shall be, if he call thee, that thou shalt 
say, Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth." 

3. " Girls, we have spent our strength 
vainly. It is our privilege to get up higher; 
to look at all these things from the mount 
whereon God will let us stand, if we want 
to climb." 

The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
" Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine 
of Christ, let us go on unto perfection." 

73 



74 JULY. 

4. There is no trade on earth so easy to 
learn as grumbling. 

Mrs. Solomon Smith. 

^^ Bless the Lord, my soul, and forget not all 
his benefits." 

5. I couldn't doubt my right. Indeed it 
seemed to me to be a duty, not only to pray, 
but actually to supplicate, to coax, you 
know, just as I was so tempted to do when 
a child. 

Ruth Erskine's Crosses. 

*'/« everything by prayer and supplication icith 
thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto 
God." 

6. I pity the man who has not brain power 
enough, and insight into the future enough, 
to be willing to be anchored in God. 

One Commonplace Day. 

" And I vnll say unto my soul, Soul, thou hast 
much goods laid up for many years ; take thine ease, 
eat, drink, and be merry. 

But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy 
soiil shall be required of thee : then v:hose shall 
those things be, which thou hast provided?" 



JULY. 75 

7. I shall have to confess that Kuth's 
old obstinacy came to her aid ; — or to her 
hinderance, as you will; concessions which 
she could have made, she would not; and 
when she might have resisted gently, grace- 
fully, she often did it sternly, with a deter- 
mination to carry her point, which was much 
more evident to her husband than was the 
reason for carrying it. 

Judge Barnham's Daughters. 
^^ And the servant of the Lord must not strive,' 
but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient.'* 

8. You have left the duty of giving 
subject to the accident of having something 
left after all your wants are supplied. Is 
that really the w^ay ? 

The Pocket Measure. 

" And of all that thou shalt give me I ivill surely 
give the tenth unto thee.' 

9. Will He not be pleased with even 
my little bits of efforts if He knows that my 
sincere desire is to save souls for his glory ? 

Ester Ried Yet Speaking. 

^'' And every man shall receive his own reward ac- 
cording to his own labor." 



76 JULY. 

10. No one ever was afraid of becoming a 
drunkard. If people only were afraid, we 
should have no drunkards. 

Helen Lester. 

" Wlierefore let him that thinketh he standeth 
take heed lest he fall." 

11. We must feel some little measure of 
the same love for a soul, that the Lord Jesus 
does when He calls after it, else how can 
we hope to reach it ? 

Links In Rebecca's Life. 

" And that He died for all, that they which live 
should not henceforth live unto themselves, hut unto 
Him which died for them, and rose again.'' 

12. It always seemed to me a bad sign 
to see people amused with caricatures of 
good, pure old faces. 

Profiles. 

" And as he %cas going up by the way, there came 
forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, 
and said unto him. Go up, thou bald head ; go up, 
thou bald head. 

And he turned back, and looked on them, and 
cursed them in the name of the Lord." 



JULY. 77 

13. It was such a lovely Sunday morning ! 
The world looked just as glad and happy as 
a world can look. The church bells seemed 
like joyful music ; that is, they sounded so 
to some people. What a pity that people 
and things can not be in tune in this world. 

Cunning Workmen. 

^'^ I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go 
into the house of the Lord. 

Our feet shall stand within thy gates, Jeru- 
salem. 

Jerusalem is huilded as a city that is compact 
together : 

Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, 
unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the 
name of the Lord." 



14. Alas for the Christian world which 
believes in theory, that there is a direct link 
between the seen and the unseen, by which 
the earnest soul can be told in what way to 
walk, and, in practice, thinks it must search 
out its own way ! 

Interrupted. 

" O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou 
doubt?" 



78 JULY. 

15. "You know, mamma, you trained us to 
a very careful attention to fashion, in all its 
details ; we want to do full justice to your 
early teachings. As Madame Dupont used 
to say, 'A young lady who is not ait fait 
in all that regards the demands of fashion, 
is dead already.' " It was a keen, pointed 
arrow, and it struck home. Ruth sat and 
thought about it after she was left alone ; 
as she had sat and thought many a day, 
since her work for these girls began to 
develop in ways of which she had not 
dreamed. 

Judge Buruham's Daughters. 

" Ye shall knovj them by their fruits. Do men 
gather grapes of thorns, or Jigs of thistles f " 



16. ''There is no desolation of heart to 
those who part at night to meet again in the 
morning.'' 

The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 

" He will swallow up death in victory ; the Lord 
God will wipe away tears from off all faces ; and the 
rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all 
the earth : for the Lord hath spoken it." 



JULY. 79 

17. When the church and the world start 
out to walk hand in hand, it is a curious 
thing that it is always the world that sees 
the inconsistencies, and laughs, and always 
the church that is blind. 

Profiles. 

" Wherefore come out from among them, and be 
ye separate, saith the Lord." 

" Then the Church sat down at her ease and said: 

' / am rich and in goods increased. 
I have need of nothing and naught to do. 

But to laugh, and dance, and feast.' 
But the sly world heard her, and laughed in his 
sleeve. 

And mockingly said, aside, 
' 27ie church has fallen, the beautiful church. 

And her shame is her boast and pride."' 



18. I have known kitchens that ought to 
have glowed with the beauty of the strong 
unselfish hearts beating there through dan- 
ger, and trial, and harassing toil. 

Ruth Erskine's Crosses. 

" To them who by patient continuance in well 
doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, 
eternal life." 



80 JULY. 

19. More things than some people dream 
of, are going on in this world of ours. 

Interrupted. 

" And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, 
Surely the Lord is in this place ; audi knew it not." 

20. Sunday is a blessed day of rest ; and 
to think that the Lord gives a wonderful 
promise to them that keep it! 

Mrs. Solomon Smith. 

''If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, 
from doing thy pleasure on my holy day ; and call 
the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honor- 
able ; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own 
ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking 
thine own words : 

Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I 
will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the 
earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy 
father : for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." 

21. It is a fearful thing for one who 
loves the Lord to move about under the 
Satan-inflicted torture of the thought : " He 
is cruel : He is cruel ! " 

One Commonplace Day. 

''In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God 
foolishly." 



jv-L^. 81 

22. A boy would be thought insane who 
would laugh at another for trjdng to save 
his life, or to save himself from being hurt 
in any way ; but, because one wants to save 
his soul, wants him to act like a creature 
who is to live forever, and can be happy or 
wretched, just as he pleases, then some are 
ready to laugh. Is such folly worth minding? 

Helen Lester. 

" Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and 
of my words ; of him also shall the Son of man be 
ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father 
with the holy angels." 

23. I suppose Paul made failures, but he 
thought that Christ's blood was powerful 
enough to atone for even failures, and His 
love strong enough to forgive them. I don't 
imagine that Paul kept looking back and 
sighing over them after Christ had forgiven 
them. Do you? 

Household Puzzles. 

'' Forgetting those things which are behind, and 
reaching forth unto those things which are before, 

I press toward the mark for the prize of the high 
calling of God in Christ Jesus." 



82 JULY. 

24. There is at least that amount of com- 
fort to be gotten out of a disagreeable duty 
faithfully performed — the performer, by 
the time the work is done, has generall}* 
reached a higher plane of life, where he can 
say : *• I followed the path pointed out as 
nearly as I could. The results are not for 
me to arrange. The matter has been handed 
over to the Master's hands." 

Cunning Workmen. 

''And J^oses irent vp from the j^^di^ts of Moah 
unto the mountain of Xebo^ to the top of Pisrfah, 
that is over against Jericho. And the Djrd sheioed 

him ail the land of Gilead, unto Dan 

And the Lord said unto him, This is theland irhich 
I sicare unto Abraham, ttnto Isaac, and vnto Jacob, 
saying, I icill give it unto thy seed: I have caused 
thee to see it icith thine eyes. 



25. Do you think we ought to have an 
'• anything but that," between the Lord and 
our prayers ? 

Links in Rebecca's Life. 

*' And he irent aicay again the second time, and 
prayed, saying, my Father, if this cup may not 
pass airay from me, except I drink it, thy icill be 
done." 



JULY. 83 

26. To what use could those large silent 
rooms be put which would reflect honor on 
the One to whom all hers was consecrated ? 
Ah, therein lay the secret of the difficulty ! 
She must say "our rooms,'' if only she 
could sa}', '^all ours is consecrated," how 
plainly would the answer to this painful 
riddle glow before her ! She knew a dozen 
beautiful things that might be done with 
cultured consecrated homes." 

Judge Bumham's Daughters. 

" Com iyrjj iralk together, except they he fujreed ?" 

27. One reason why our friends are not 
converted is because we, their leaders, walk 
so crookedly that we keep them all the time 
stumbling over us. 

Household Puzzles. 

" Can the blind Jpad the blind? shall they not 
both fall into the ditch?" 

28. Where would be the church of Christ 
without its living, working members ? 

Interrupted. 

'* Thou hast a feio names even in Sardis irhich 
have not defiled their (jfrnnents ; and they shall walk 
with me in white : for they are worthy.'^ 



84 JTLT. 

29. Don't allow yourself for one moment 
to limit the power and the grace of a Saviour. 

Remember he is '• mighty to save." 

One CoflUDoofdare Daj. 

'* Xbm u mtok im that is abie to do exceeding ahnn- 
damtijf mbon aH that we ask or think, according to 
the power that worbetk im vs. 

Unto him be glory in, the Chmrth by Jesus Christ 
tkromgkomtaB, mges, world vithout end." 

30. I wonder how I should feel if I 
should go to heaven and meet one of those 
whom I ought to have known in the church 
on earth, and the Ix)rd should see that we 
were strangers! 

Life. 



** Sow therefore ye are mo more stremger* and for- 
eigners, bwA fdaow-eUizens with the stUmts, and of 
the homaduM of God." 

31. The fact is. we must learn to work 
for Christ, and not set up business for our- 
selves, and still expect Him to give the 
wages. 

The Cfcit— |«a GiilB at IIoiDe. 



" Be Aat is mot with m« is agmnst wte ; and he 
fh«t gathertA not with wte scattereth abroad." 



AUGUST. 

1. So many things in this world squeak 
for the want of a thoughtful hand to ad- 
minister a drop of oil. 

Interrupted. 

" To appoint ttnto them that mourn in Zion, to 
give unto theva heanty for ashes, the oil of joy for 
mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of 
heaviness ; that they might he called trees of right- 
eousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be 
glorified." 



2. If it were wise or kind to make 
such distinctions I could wish that those 
whose friends have gone, without a gleam 
of light, into an unknown future, should 
wear the crepe and bombazine : and let us, 
who have seen the reflection of the glory 
signalize it by wearing only dazzling white. 

Judge Bumham's Daughters. 

''And to her iras granted that she should he 
arrayed in fine linen, clean and tchite : for the fine 
linen is the righteousness of saints.** 

85 



86 AUGUST. 

3. *•! ain't one that expects folks six- 
teen years old to act as though they was 
sixty," said Mrs. Smith. 

Mrs. Sok>iDon Smith. 
*' When Iwas a child, I gpaie as a child, Ivr- 
dentood as a child, I thought as a child : but yohen. 
Ibee4Kme a man I put a wag childish things.** 

4- We are almost tired of all sorts of 
books, but there is one Book which never 
wears out. What if you and I should be- 
gin to study the Bible ? 

Bath Erskine's Crosses. 

*' How sweet are thy ttords unto my taste ! yea, 
SKteter than honey to wty mouth ! " 

5. When I remember the infinite height 
above us all that the Lord occupies, and 
how He stoops, to have anything to do' with 
one of us. I am humiliated at the idea of 
calling any work of mine lowly. There are 
times when there seems to me no very great 
heights or depths of humanity. 

An EnAesB duuB. 

"JSearken, my belor^d brethren. Hath nU Gfjd 
ehoseM the poor of this xcorid rich in. faiih, and 
heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to 
them that love him f 



AUGl'ST. 87 

6. I can't help feeling that you are plan- 
ning in your own heart just what ought to 
be done, and then allowing yourself to feel 
almost indignant and ill-used because the 
work is not accomplished. 

The ChuttamqwOk Giiis M. ITot. 

" For as the kanems art \igher than the emrthy 
90 are mjf ways kigker than ^onr ways, aud mg 
tkomghis tham ^ur thoughts," 

7. Oh! there were constant blunders 
which this poor blundering Christian mad*^. 
She needed helping from the human side : 
and she had chosen a broken reed to lean 
upon. Is it any wonder that she made mis- 
takes ? I am not excusing her. She might, 
even under these circumstances, have gone 
to the Stronghold, and received grace suffi- 
cient. What I am saying, is, that she 
made life harder for herself than it need 
have been. 

Judge Bamhaia's Duisfacexs. 

" B^ ye not vneqwaltg foted togeiker «tA nmbe- 
Uerers : for tthat feUtmship hath rightecmsmeu vith 
Murigkteaasmas t amd ythtU commumion hath light 
with darkness f 



88 AUGUST. 

8. There is a way of praying about a 
soul with wlioiii we are offended — or, at 
least, we call it praying — which is simply 
pouring out one's knowledge of that per- 
son's shortcomings in a most vindictive 
way before the One whom we almost un- 
consciously feel ought to come to our help 
and administer rebuke. 

Interrupted. 

" And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have 
ought against any : that your Father also ^ohich is 
in heaven may forgive you your trespasses." 

9. I wonder when the Lord's own peo- 
ple will awaken to the fact that there are 
no trivial things in life ? that there are 
no passing moments but what decide the 
eternal destinies of souls ? 

One Commonplace Day. 
*' Thou tellest my wanderings : put thou my tears 
into thy bottle : are they not in thy book ? " 

10. God is on your side, He will surely 
deliver you if you trust in Him ; if you 
turn from Him how can He helj) you ? 

Household Puzzles. 
" Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be 
saved." 



AUGUST. 89 

11. You Avill find that if this life is a 
warfare we have more than a Captain — 
we've a Commander-in-chief, and we have 
nothing to do with the fight, other than to 
obey orders and keep behind the shield. 

Links in Rebecca's Life. 

" Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of 
our faith." 

12. Meantime where was Satan ? Con- 
tent to let this reaping time alone ? Oh ! 
bless you, no. Never busier, never more 
alert, and watchful, and cautious, and skill- 
ful than now. It was wonderful, too, how 
many helpers he found whose names were 
actually on the roll of the Church ! 

The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 

" Satan hath desired to have you." 

13. Those girls had climbed ; they were 
standing — at least so far as these trying 
little beginnings of religious experience 
were concerned, away above them — trou- 
bled by them no more. 

Judge Burnham's Daughters. 
" For which cause we faint not ; but though our 
outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed 
day by day." 



90 AUGUST. 

14. When you accepted Christ as your 
Friend, did you not engage to take some 
things on trust — to believ^e that what you 
could not see, was yet clear to the eye and 
the heart of your Saviour, and that He 
ruled ? 

Household Puzzles. 
^^ Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou 
host seen me, thou hast believed : blessed are they 
that have not seen, and yet have believed." 

15. There is just One who fought a ba' tie 
with Satan and came off victor, and there 
never will be another. The victory must 
come through Him, or it is at best a very 
partial, and at all times a doubtful one. In 
Him are safety and everlasting strength, 
and outside of Him is danger. 

Interrupted. 

*' Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels 
came and ministered unto him." 

16. How wonderful that any of us are 
careless or thoughtless for a 9no9ne7it, so long 
as we have a child or a friend unsafe. 

The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
" Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God 
for Israel is, that they might be saved." 



AUGUST. 91 

17. She had prayed for it, but she was 
like many anotlier Cliristian worker in that 
she had not seemed to expect the answer to 
her prayer. Verily, He has to be content 
with exceeding little faith. 

Interrupted. 

*' But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. 
For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven 
with the wind and tossed" 

18. " If I prefer not Jerusalem above my 
chief joy," what then ? Why, then I am 
false to my covenant vows, and the possi- 
bilities are that I am none of His. 

Interrupted. 

" Beyond my highest joy 

I prize her heavenly ways ; 
Her sweet commiinion, solemn votes, 

Her hymns of love and praise.'' 

19. A religious uplifting which does not 
bubble over into whatever practical work 
the heart or the hands find to do, is not 
apt to continue. 

Internipted . 

" Therefore they that usere scattered abroad went 
everywhere preaching the word." 



92 AUGUST. 

20. ''Here was she, after the lapse of 
years, sitting beside the one with whom she 
had spent the most of them, and he had 
gotten no farther than the old, worn-out 
query : " Wherein lies the harm ? " The 
solemn question w^as. Did this tell some- 
thing of her own spiritual state ? 

Judge Buruham's Daughters. 

'* For when for the time ye ought to he teachers, 
ye have need that one teach you again lohich be the 
first principles of the oracles of God; and are be- 
come such as have need of milk, and not of strong 
meat." 

21. God bless the souls who, capable of 
rising to the heights which belong to im- 
mortality, yet think of kitchen fires and 
breakfasts. 

One Commonplace Da)-. 

" }Vherefore I pray you to take some meat: for 
this is for your health : for there shall not an hair 
fall from the head of any of you." 

" And when Paid had gathered a bundle of sticks, 
and laid them on the fire, their came a viper out of 
the heat, and fastened on his hand. , . . And 
he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no 
harm." 



AUGUST. 93 

22. Dear, half-asleep Christian, wonders 
are taking place all about you, and is it pos- 
sible that you are merely engaged in try- 
ing to prove to yourself and others that 
"the age of miracles is past" ? though why 
you should be very anxious to prove it, 
does not clearly appear even to yourself. 

Interrupted. 

** What meanest thou, sleeper ? arisen call 
upon thy God.'* 



23. So long as the Lord said there was 
a place by Him, and promised to hide us, 
and promised to shield us, and promised to 
cover us with His hands, and promised to 
gather us under His wings, why should we 
be forever starting off alone, or at best only 
allowing Him to push a little, while we go 
ahead and climb ? 

Links in Rebecca's Life. 

" He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most 
High shall abide under the shadoioofthe Almighty." 



94 AUGUST. 

24. A band of young people plunged 
heart and soul into anything, are almost 
certain to succeed. The everlasting pity is 
that so often success is not worth the price 
paid. 

Profiles. 

" Then Hooked on all the works that my hands 
had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured 
to do : and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of 
spirit, and there was no profit under the sun" 

25. There is many a boy who coaxes a 
girl to go where he wishes in his soul she 
may have Christian firmness to refuse. 

Profiles, 
"ijf sinners entice thee, consent thou not." 

26. We shall probably never know, on 
this side, how far the prayers of the mothers 
at home reach. 

One Commonplace Day. 

^'' And it came to pass, as she continued praying 
before the Lord, that Eli marked her mouth. 

Now Hannah, she spake in her heart; only her 
lips moved, but her voice was not heard." 



AUGUST. 95 

27. I think sometimes our Heavenly 
Father does just as we do with the children. 
He lets us stumble in a place where it is 
not too hard, so that we will learn what it 
is to obey. 

Links in Rebecca's Life. 

^'■Except ye he converted, and become as little 
children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of 
heaven." 

28. The Lord knows you ; knows just 
what place He has set you in; just how 
many people you can touch with your in- 
fluence, and just what He is going to do 
with them all. 

The Pocket Measure. 
" The Lord thy God hath chosen thee." 



2% "Get thee behind me, Satan.'^ The 
only perfect Life gave that sentence once, 
not alone for Himself ; thank God, He has 
many a time since enabled His weak chil- 
dren of the flesh to repeat it in triumph. 

The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
'' Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." 



96 AUGUST. 

30. How wonderful will the revelations 
of Heaven be, when certain, whose lives have 
touched for a few days and then separated, 
shall meet, in some of the cycles of eter- 
nity, and talk things over ! 

Interrupted. 

^' And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and 
was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom" 

31. Poor Kuth was destined to realize 
fully that one may shut the doors with 
emphasis against tangible guests, and yet 
receive a whole troop of miscreants into 
one's heart, who made havoc with holy time. 

Judge Bumham's Daughters. 

" Keep thy heart with all diligence ; for out of it 
are the issues of life." 



SEPTEMBER. 

1. In that glorious old prophet's book is 
my jubilant verse : — 

" And the ransomed of the Lord shall re- 
turn, and come to Zion with songs and ever- 
lasting joy upon their heads : they shall 
obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and 
sighing shall flee away." 

Ester Ried. 

•' Oh! sweet and blessed Country, 

The home of God's elect ; 
Oh ! sweet and blessed Country, 

That eager hearts exjject ; 
Jesus, in mercy bring us 

To that dear land of rest; 
Who art, with God the Father, 

And Spirit, ever blest " 

2. When one attempts not only to drop 
the seed, but to make the fruit that shall 
spring up, no wonder one stands back 
appalled ! 

The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 

'^ I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave 
the increase." 

97 



98 SEPTEMBER. 

3. There is a sense in which we are all 
of us unworthy of Christ's love or care, but 
we are always to remember this : that He 
has chosen us for His own, that we have 
been bought with a price, that we are held 
as infinitely precious in His sight, and that, 
tlierefore, we must set a high estimate on 
our own importance, and live accordingly. 

One Commonplace Day. 

" Since thou \!oast precious in my sight, thou hast 
been honorable ; and I have loved thee: therefore 
ivill I give men for thee, and people for thy life." 

4. Reason, being allowed once more to 
take her seat, accused this Christian woman 
of having yielded, not to conscience, but to 
rage. Herein lay the real point of the 
sting : she knew her action would be at- 
tributed to her religion, when she her- 
self rea.lized only too well, that it was the 
outburst of a moment's ungovernable in- 
dignation. 

Judge Bumham's Daughters. 

" The heart is deceitful above all things, and 
desperately wicked: who can know it?" 



SEPTEMBER. 99 

5. I can't help thinking that there are 
some people who have not received the 
Holy Ghost, even though they do believe ; 
not that He hasn't come to them, you know, 
but that they won't receive Him. 

Links in Rebecca's Life. 
" But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, 
whom the Father icill send in my name, he shall 
teach you all things, and bring all things to your 
remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." 

6. " I have made up my mind that living 
a Christian life, isn't walking on a feather 
bed, whether you live in a palace, or a 
fourth-rate boarding-house, and teach school. 
I shouldn't wonder if there were such things 
as vexations everywhere." 

The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 

" For our light affliction, lohich is but for a 
moment, loorketh for us afar more exceeding and 
eternal weight of glory." 

7. Utter shipwreck of human happiness 
is rarely, thank God, a necessity ; even 
though grievous blunders have been made. 

The Pocket Measure. 
^^ Return tmto me, and I will return unto you, 
saith the Lord of Hosts." 



100 SEPTEMBER. 

8. " That's for all the world like some 
folks ! " Mrs. Solomon Smith remarked 
meditatively, resting her knitting-needle on 
her lip and staring into the glow on the 
hearth. " You have to give them an awful 
poke, every now and then, before they set 
themselves to amounting to anything." 

Mrs. Solomon Smith. 

" This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto 
you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by 
way of remembrance.^* 

9. Life is full of victories, and so long 
as we have a sure Captain to carry on the 
warfare, and know there will be victories, 
why should we be so disturbed about it ? 

Links in Rebecca's Life. 
" But thanks be to God, which giveth us the vic- 
tory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 

10. If you belong to the Lord Jesus, 
surely He has work for you, and is able to 
point it out, and to lill your heart with 
satisfaction while you do His bidding 

Interrupted. 

" Having then gifts differing according to the 
grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us 
prophesy according to the proportion of faith." 



SEPTEMBER. 101 

11, Meantime, she slowly made the 
changes in her dress that had been called 
for; this much she could do. She smiled 
somewhat curiously over the discovery that 
her recent experience had made her look at 
even so trivial a thing as this, in a new 
light. Yesterday she would have said that 
she was sorry her dress did not suit, but as 
it was the most appropriate garment she 
had for the occasion, she must ask him to 
be content with it. To-day, such a response 
looked humiliatingly hateful. Had she 
really been a disagreeable Christian through 
all these years ? 

Judge Buraliam's Daughters. 

""Let this mind be in you, which was also in 
Christ Jesns." 

12. It is a truth that a certain class of 
Christian workers need to ponder deeply, 
that when we have done our best, accord- 
ing to the measure of our opportunities, we 
may safely leave the Holy Spirit to supple- 
ment our work. 

Interrupted. 

" Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, 
saith the Lord of Hosts." 



102 SEPTEMBER. 

13. There are two waj's of keeping a 
promise ; one is to make an attempt and 
fail, saying to our contented consciences, 
"There! I've done my duty, and it is no 
use, you see " ; and the other is to j)ersist in 
attempt after attempt, until the very per- 
tinacity of our faith accomplishes the work 
for us. 

The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 

" Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man 
be found faithful." 

14. We care for anything for which we 
work, and especially for which we sacrifice 
a little, you know. 

Interrupted. 

Who for the joy that icas set before him endured 
the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at 
the right hand of the throne of God." 

15. 1 tremble for any man whose will is 
not anchored on the rock Christ Jesus. 

Que Commonplace Day. 

''Which hope ice have as an anchor of the soul, 
both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into 
that within the veiV 



SEPTEMBEK. 103 

16. Shall we .who belong to Christ's body 
have aught to say against the different 
members of that body ? Don't you think it 
is a subject that we, as Christians, need to 
think much of ? Do we not constantly for- 
get that we are " members one of another " ? 

Links in Rebecca's Life. 

" Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in 
particular." 

17. " I am 7iot a prisoner," she told her- 
self firmly, " nor a slave. I am the Lord's 
free woman. I am responsible to Him ; and 
I will not bow my neck to the yoke of 
fashionable life. I will not appear to coun- 
tenance what I do not approve." 

Judge Buruham's Daughters. 
*' Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith 
Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled with 
the yoke of bondage." 

18. Suppose we actually bore on our 
hearts the individual griefs of the world ? 
How long would our poor bodies be in 
breaking under the strain ? 

Interrupted. 
" Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried 
our sorrows." 



104 SEPTEMBER. 

19. Poor, tired heart. Don't you think 
that the Lord Jesus can rest you anywhere 
except by the way of the grave ? Don't 
you hear His voice calling to you to come 
and rest in Him this minute ? 

Huth Erskine's Crosses. 

" Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy 
laden, and Iioill give you rest.** 

20. It was the humiliation of this Chris- 
tian woman that there were times when 
silence would have been golden, in which 
she could not resist the temptation to sar- 
casm. 

Judge Burnham's Daughters. 

" To everything there is a season, and a time to 
every purpose under the heaven. . . . 
A time to keep silence, and a time to speak.** 

21. There is so mucn religion in these 
days that wants to be done up in pink cotton 
and laid safely away from human sight and 
sound. 

Links in Rebecca's life. 

^'^ I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of 
the icorld, hut that thou shouldst keep them from 
the evil." 



SEPTEMBEK. 105 

22. She had been so long among peo- 
ple who did not know how to pray, as to 
have almost forgotten how busy some 
women were in their Lord's vineyard. 

Judge Burnham's Daughters. 

" Even so, then, at this present time also, there is 
a remnant according to the election of grace." 

23. He considered himself posted on all 
subjects, Avhether in art, literature, or music ; 
and unhesitatingly expressed his opinion 
with an air that was intended to quench 
any opposing views from any source what- 
ever. T do not think he would have hesi- 
tated to dispute the most eminent scientist 
which the world has produced, if he hap- 
pened to venture a statement not in accord- 
ance with his own preconceived opinion, 
though that opinion might have been 
adopted because of a chance remark which 
he heard some one make at the breakfast 
table.'^ 

Judge Burnham's Daughters. 

" Seest thou a man uiise in his oion conceit? 
there is more hope of a fool than of him." 



106 SEPTEMBER. 

24. It is easier to be good for others 
than it is for one's self. 

Eighty-Seven. 

'• Therefore thou art inexcusable, 0, man, who- 
soever thou art that jiuhjest : for loherein thou 
judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou 
that judgest doest the same things." 



25. She had not wanted to wrap her- 
self in black for her father. It was true 
that she felt desolate enough to describe it 
to the world by the heaviest crepe it could 
furnish her ; but, remembering her father's 
face, as earth receded from him, and Heaven 
appeared, remembering the smile of un- 
earthly radiance with which he finally 
'^ entered in," it had not seemed fitting that 
she, a Christian, looking forward to the 
same entrance one day, should array herself 
in gloom, and mourn as those who had no 
bright side to their sorrow. 

Judge Burnham's Daughters. 

^^ I will turn their mourning into joy, and will 
comfort them, and make them rejoice from their 
sorrow. " 



SEPTEMBER. 107 

26. We love to be governed by reason, 
and hate to walk in the dark. I have 
always wondered what Philip said when 
called to leave his great meeting, where it 
seemed hardly possible to do without him, 
and go toward the south on a desert road. 
That he went, and promptly, is, I think, a 
wonderful thing for Philip. 

Interrupted. 

^^ For now ice see through a glass, darkh/ ; hut 
then face to face : noio I kuoic in part ; but then 
shall I know even as also lam knoicn." 

27. " Whosoever shall do the will of my 
Father which is in Heaven, the same is my 
brother and sister.'^ If they are His 
brothers and sisters then are they not ours, 
if we belong to His family ? and you know 
we do not like to see our kindred subjects 
of ridicule, even though they may some- 
times be guilty of bad taste in dress, and 
have among them those w^ho have physical 
infirmities. 

Links in Rebecca's Life. 

"/or he that toiicheth you toucheth the apple of 
his eye." 



108 SEPTEMBER. 

28. Union with Christ ; such a union as 
carries you captive — making your time, and 
your money, and your talents, not your own, 
but His. There is nothing dissatisfying 
about such a life, my friend. It almost 
lifts one above the accident of outward 
surroundings. 

Interrupted. 

" But none of these things move me, neither count 
I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish 
my course with joy." 



29. It seemed to Euth, afterwards, that 
during that half-hour after the doctor left 
her alone, she came face to face with a realiz- 
ing sense of death and the judgment, for the 
first time in her life ! And the thought that 
a soul with which she had had to do, for 
years, was going swiftly forward into those 
scenes, all unprepared, seemed almost to 
paralyze her with terror. 

Judge Bumham's Daughters. 

" They watch for your souls, as they that must 
give account, that they may do it with joy, and not 
with grief." 



SEPTEMBER. 109 

30. It is a blessed thing that the just 
God is more tender and pitiful than men 
and women. 

Links in Rebecca's Life. 

" I icill heal their backsliding, I iriU love them 
freely: for mine anger is turned away from him." 



OCTOBER. 

1. " Go tell my disciples — and Peter." 
Just think of that ! A special message to 
Peter, the one who had treated him the 
worst. 

The Randolphs. 

" Oh! see hoiv Jesus trusts himself 
Unto our childish love, 
As though by his free ways with us. 
Our earnestness to prove." 



2. "Times are changed, and I like the 
Lord's house to keep pace with our own, at 
least. Look how they did with the Temple. 
The Lord had the best used for that. It 
came first, and I suppose if the people had 
anything left, they could put some of the 
pretty into their own homes, but not before 
the Temple had all it needed. That ought 
to be the rule now," said Mrs. Smith. 

Mrs. Solomon iamith. 

" And they spake unto Moses, saying. The peo- 
ple bring much more than enough for the service of 
the work." 

110 



OCTOBER. Ill 

3. Two souls ought to be able to come 
together in communion with the Master 
every evening. There is a good deal of 
wasted happiness in this world. 

The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 

" Again I say unto yon, That if two of you shall 
agree on earth as touching anything that they shall 
ask, it shall he done for them of my Father vjhich is 
in heaven." 

4. " If I have resolved to strive to do 
whatever He would like to have me, there 
can be no objection to my writing that res- 
olution on paper for the purpose of letting 
others know where T stand, and of winning 
them to my way. Of course the signing a 
covenant is merely the expression for the 
convenience of others, of a deliberate con- 
viction and line of action. Whether I set 
down my name, or not, does not alter the 
facts as they stand revealed to the Lord 
Jesus Christ." 

Chrissy's Endearor. 

" I believed, therefore have I spoken; Twill walk 
before the Lord in the land of the living. I vnll 
pay my vows unto the Lord." 



112 OCTOBER. 

5. It is a strange thing, and a solemn 
thing to realize how unwittingly the seed 
of unbelief may be sown in a young heart. 

Spun from Fact. 

" Take heed what ye do." 

6. Alas ! for the doctors who shrink 
away from death as a grim monster, and 
know nothing about the Hand of Power 
that has taken away the sting. No wonder 
that the temptation to shirk or to deliber- 
ately deny the truth is too great for them. 

Household Puzzles. 

" 0, death! where is thy sting? 0, grave! where 
is thy victory ? " 

7. Human patience is a very weak and 
contemptible thing, but if you belong to 
the Lord Jesus Christ, you have found in 
Him infinite patience, and it is His com- 
mand that you struggle to make this pa- 
tience yours ; to watch over, and weep for, 
and pray for the fallen with Christ-like 
patience and Christ-like tenacity. 

One Commonplace Day. 

" But let patience have her perfect icork, that ye 
may be perfect and entire, icanting nothing." 



OCTOBER. 113 



8. When we stop and consider it, life, 
for the most part, is made up of little 
things. It is only the occasional which is 
startling in its magnitude. 

Eighty-Seven. 

"Who Tcnoweth not in all these that the hand of 
the Lord hath wrought this? 
In whose hand is the soul of every living thing." 

9. It is not every one who, having made 
arrangements to give a party, goes to his 
Father in Heaven for help and encourage- 
ment. 

Cunning Workmen. 

" And the third day there was a marriage in Cana 
of Galilee ; and the mother of Jesus icas there : 

And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to 
the marriage.'* 

10. He discoursed learnedly on religious 
topics, making the wildest statements, which 
were without even the shadow of a solid 
foundation, and proceeding gravely to argue 
about them as the accepted standards of the 
Church. 

Judge Bumham's Daughters. 

" Who is this that darkeneth counsel by icords 
without knowledge?" 



114 OCTOBER. 

11. Do you suppose St. Paul had to pat- 
ronize fairs, and buy slippers and things, 
for the benefit of churches in Ephesus or 
Corinth ? 

Interrupted. 

" And all that believed were together, and had all 
things common ; 

And sold their possessions and goods, and parted 
them to all men, as every man had need." 

12. No heavy burdens, so-called, but ten 
thousand little things, or what in our par- 
lance are called little things, weighed down 
her heart, fettered her lips, and filled her 
with a steadily increasing unrest. 

Judge Buruham's Daughters. 

•' And Jesus answered and said unto her, 3Iqitha, 
Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many 
things." 

13. What are homes for ? Why did He 
give you one ? May it not possibly be that 
He wants you to show its photograph to 
others for a purpose ? 

An Endless Chain. 

^^ My lord, king, according to thy saying, I 
am thine, and all that I have." 



OCTOBER. 115 

14. I think if I could help to lead one 
person to understand and love the Lord 
Jesus Christ as much even as I understand 
Him now, so that He would be that soul's 
eternal salvation, it would be ambition 
enough to fill a lifetime. 

The Hall in the Grove. 

*' O, Jerusalem, Jerusalem^ thou that killest the 
prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, 
how often v'onld I have gathered thy children to- 
gether, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under 
her wings, and ye would not ! " 

15. Perhaps it is just as well for young 
people to look squarely in the face the fact 
that there will be discouragements to meet 
their hopes, and apathetic croakers to meet 
their enthusiasms, to the end of time. 

The main thing, and the central pivot on 
which the main thing will turn, is to make 
sure of being able to say bravely to your 
inmost soul : *' The Lord is with us, fear 
them not." 

Chrissy's Endeavor. 

*' The slothful man saith, ' there is a lion in the 
way.' " 

^' And there ice saw the giants ! And we were in 
our own sight as grasshoppers ! " 



116 OCTOBER. 

16. She felt that the time had certainly 
come when she could no longer fold her 
hands in graceful idleness ; she must find 
her appointed niche in the Lord's great work- 
shop, and do her part. 

Judge Bumham's Daughters. 

''And straightway he (Paul) preached Christ in 
the synagogues.'' 



17. Jeanie Barret, when she knelt in 
that tented space, felt only a blind, home- 
sick longing for an experience such as she 
believed some had, but which she was more 
than doubtful could be for her. When she 
arose, not ten minutes afterward, she knew, 
as well as that she stood there, with the old 
minister touching her arm and speaking to 
her in low tones, that she had passed from 
the position which she had all her life occu- 
pied over to the other side, with the Lord 
Jesus Christ for her advocate. 

Spun from Fact. 

" One thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, 
now I see." 



OCTOBER. IJ 7 

18. There are mornings trying to the 
souls of cooks, when it is well known that 
the kettle will not boil until it is waited for, 
and coaxed with special chips, and then it 
chooses an unexpected moment and boils 
over into the potatoes, and steak smokes 
instead of broils, and everything everywhere 
is totally depraved. 

Links in Rebecca's Life. 

''And lest I should be exalted above measure 
through the abundance of the revelations, there was 
given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of 
Satan to buffet we, lest I should be exalted above 
measure." 

19. As for herself, she had full and 
abiding faith in the fact that the Christ of 
Galilee had lavished miracles, many and 
wonderful, upon that favored people eigh- 
teen hundred years ago ; what she wanted 
was a miracle for her, to-day. 

Judge Bumham's Daughters. 

" But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and 
said. Behold, I thought, he will surely come out to 
me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his 
God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover 
the leper." 



118 OCTOBER. 

20. I wonder if everything about us, 
rightly managed, would become a talent ? 

The Hall in the Grove. 

" Atid the Lord said unto him, Wliat is that in 
thine hand? And he said, A rod." 

21. What wonderful rewards God may 
have in store for even our smallest efforts 
made for His sake ! 

The Pocket Measure. 

" The Lord recompense thy work, and a full 
reward he given thee of the Lord God of Israel, 
under whose wings thou art come to trust." 

22. There is no class of workers more 
utterly to be pitied than those who struggle 
and toil, "making bricks "oftentimes "with- 
out straw," and who find at the close that, 
someway, the bricks seem not to have been 
worth the cost. 

Profiles. 

*' Wherefore do ye spend money for that which, is 
not bread? and your labor for that ichich satisjieth 
not? hearken diligently unto me, anJ eat ye that 
which is good, and let your soul delight itstlf in 
fatness." 



" OCTOBER. 119 

23. Don't you know that people are in 
strips ? Whenever I see a new face I can 
calculate in a few minutes from which strip 
it came. 

The Hall in the Grove. 
^' And being let go, they went to their own com- 
pany.''^ 

24. Talk about woman's intuition ! Let 
me assure you that there are some women, 
or it may be they are only girls, before time 
and bitter experience have taught them the 
hard wisdom of the world, whose faith in 
those whom they love is so absolute that 
nothing has power to shake it. 

Spun from Fact. 
" Love covereth all sins." 

25. You cannot have lived in this world 
so long without discovering that pain and 
disappointment of every sort are not hap- 
penings, but have their own wise and most 
important ends to fulfill, though we may be 
too childish to see the occasion, or under- 
stand the remedy. 

Spun from Fact. 
" Thou shall also consider in thine heart, that, 
as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God 
chasteneth thee." 



120 OCTOBER. 

26. I wonder to what extent the gracious 
Spirit of God hovers near to suggest and 
help those who never ask for His help ? 

The Hall in the Grove. 

" That they should seek the Lord, if hcq)ly they 
might feel after Him, and find Him, though He be 
not far from eveinj one of us." 



27. You and I and most of the Christian 
world are trying to make ourselves good. 
We are willing to trust Christ for salvation 
from punishment, but as for trusting Him 
to keep our feet from falling, we don't mean 
to do any such thing. We are going to look 
after our own feet, and teach them by grad- 
ual stepSj by the law of progression, the law 
of growth, and any other law that we can 
bring to bear on it, to attain to a state of 
goodness, not to be kept to-day, but to 
attain next year to a place where we can 
keep ourselves. Isn't that it ? 

Links in Rebecca's Life. 

" Wio are kept by the power of God through faith 
unto salvation ready to he revealedin the last time." 



OCTOBER. 121 

28. It was a surprising thing when one 
stopped to look at it ; she, a Christian 
woman, hurrying to an emergency which 
she consciously did not know how to meet, 
yet taking no time to consult the acknowl- 
edged Source of all wisdom, not only, but 
One who had graciously said, " Ask of me." 

Judge Burnham's Daughters. 

''And ye shall be brought before governors and 
kings for my sake, for a testimony against them 
and the Gentiles. 

But lohen they deliver you up, take no thought 
how or ivhat ye shall speak : for it shall be given 
you in that same hour what ye shall speak.'* 



29. Don't you know there are things, 
legions of things, that you cannot explain 
to some people ? You may lay bare your 
heart, though it quiver over the intrusion, 
and they will step on it, and ask : " Why is 
this?" and "Of what use is that?" and 
^' What does the other mean ?" until, unless 
you are a saint, you flee from them in dismay. 

The Hall in tlie Grove. 

*' For thou hast hid their heart from understand- 
ing.'* 



122 OCTOBER. 

30. " She had just been brought face to 
face with a new and solemn joy, which is 
unlike any other joy to be experienced this 
side of Heaven ; and which can no more be 
described than one can describe the air we 
breathe, or the Heaven to which we are 
going. She had been permitted of the Lord, 
to speak such words as had moved the soul 
of a vounor man — a vounsr man who was in 
peril. He had been more than moved emo- 
tionally; that tremendous potentate — the 
human will — had spoken. " I will do it," 
the young man had said, and she knew that 
a decision for eternity had been made. 

Judge Bumham's Daughters. 

" For this cause also thank Ke God v^Uhout ceas- 
ing, because tehen ye received the trord of God which 
ye heard of us, ye received it not as the icord of men, 
but as it is in truth, the word of God.** 

31. I have been wondering how many of 
us are children of the same familv travelinor 
towards home, and failing to recognize the 
kinship on the way. 

The Hall in the Grove. 

•' And they s?iaU see his face ; and his name shall 
he in their foreheads." 



1. '' I am that young man to whom you, 
on that never-to-be-forgotten Sunday, made 
plain as daylight the way to eternal life. I 
thought you ought to know that I kept 
my promise to go straight to the Lord Jesus 
and claim His help. And I got it, bless 
His name I I belong to Him now, in life 
and death.'"' 

Was ever sweeter music than this offered 
to a Christian's ears ? 

Jadge Bomham's Dao^iters. 

** 77^ that be irise shall shine as the brightness 
of the firmament ; and they that turn many to right' 
eousness as the stars for erer and eter." 

2. *• Every spot in this house is his- 
toric ground."' Ermina declared one morn- 
ing, after a closely -contested argument had 
been held. '• Helen and Maria have a bat- 
tle in every room and on every chair.*' 

Household Pozzies. 

*' Him that is tceak in the faith receive ye, but not 
to doubtful disputations.'^ 

123 



124 KOTEMBEB- 

3. *•' Of course she had her own peculiar 
Tiews as to what happiness really was, and 
to sav that she sometimes came to grief by 
the very road which she supposed led to 
Paradise, is to admit no more than falls to 
the lot of mortals older and wiser than her- 
self." 

CkziaB7*s Emitatrar. 
"^ Aik eoutuel, wepraif thee, of God, that we ma§ 
kmoms ^duther owr wag which we go shall be pros- 
perous.'* 

4- " Jest think ! What if His memory 
were no better than our poor weak ones! 
We cannot remember even the names of our 
friends I " 

froaiFact. 



" What is wtau, that tkom art wUudful of himf 
and the sou cf mam, that thou risUest himf 

5. I never like to fight Satan with his 
own weapons, he understands everything 
pertaining to his business so much better 
than we do. 



" Wherefore, take unto you the vhole arou/r of 
God, that ye may he otAe to wtihstand i» the evil 
day, and havimg dome aU, to stamd." 



KOVEMBEB, 125 

6. I have unquestioning faith in the 
trath that even our mistakes He will over- 
rule for our good. 

The Baado^phs. 

"And tee know that all things work together for 
good to them that lore God, to them who are the 
called according to hi^pvrpose," 

7. We are \s-illing to be cleansed in the 
Jordan, but after that, we want to see to it 
ourselves that we do not get sick again, and 
because we fail, because we find that we 
cannot attain to perfect health, any more 
than we could cure ourselves of leprosy, 
instead of resting in the strength of One 
who has said His grace was sufficient, and 
that He was able to keep us from falling, 
we go right on sinning and repenting and 
assuring ourselves that such is the way, 
and that with such living the Lord who 
redeemed us must be content. He mustn't 
expect us to trust Him entirely, until we 
jjet awav from earth. Is that fair ? 

Links in Sebecca's lAk. 

" Being conjSdent of this renf thing, that he vhich 
katk beffun agottd work in yon ¥rill perform it mntil 
the day ofJesms Chn'^."^ 



126 NOVEMBER. 

8. Did God design that through the 
channel of song she should be led up to 
Him? 

What a grand thing it would be to have 
that voice sing only His praise ! 

The Hall in the Grove. 
"And, lo, t?wu art unto them as a very lovely 
song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play 
well on an instrument." 

" In God's great Jleld of labor 

All work is not the same ; 
He hath a service for each one 

Who loves His holy name. 
And you to ichom the secrets 

Of all sweet sounds are knoivn, 
Bise up ! for He hath called you 

To a mission of your own." 

9. People will not be warned ; they will 
just go and throw everything away, just 
as Absalom did. I suppose he did it all for 
the sake of ambition. I don't know whether, 
after all, that don't indicate a trifle more 
character than to do it for fun. That is 
what people seem to be after nowada^^s. 

Links in Rebecca s Life. 

'* He that pursueth evil pursueth it to his own 
death." 



NOVEMBER. 1 27 

10. '' What difference do you suppose it 
makes to me what people think ? ' To his 
own master he standeth or falleth.' That 
is Scripture, I believe," declared the aristo- 
cratic aunt. 

'• That's true," said Mrs. Smith, in no wise 
quenched. " That's true enough so far as 
the judging of other folks is concerned ; 
the Lord wants to do that Himself, because 
He understands all the little hidden things 
that we know nothing about ; but I guess it 
don't apply to folks not caring what other 
people think of 'em, because the Lord told 
us to be careful aVjout that." 

Mrs. Solomon Smith. 

" Moreover, he must have fi fjoofl report of them 
which are rcithout; lest he fall into reproach and 
the snare of the devil." 

11. The building is the outward sign of 
His presence, is it not ? And suggests one 
of the ways in which we can show our love 
for the God to whose worship the Church 
is dedicated. 

Interrupted. 

" //■ I for (jet thee, 0, Jerusalem I let my right 
hand forget her cunning." 



128 NOVEMBER. 

12. "If you do not try to understand 
the people who are of another world than 
yours — to, in short, * put yourselves in their 
places,' occasionally — how do you expect 
to be other than narrow and cold in your 
charities ? " 

Judge Bumham's Daughters. 

''Finally, be ye all of one mind, having com- 
passion one of another, lore as brethren." 

13. Suppose I were Paul, and should 
come to call on you this evening, and should 
say to you, '•' Have you received the Holy 
Ghost since you believed ? -' what would 
you answer ? 

Links in Rebecca's Life. 

"And I mil pray the Father, and he shall give 
you another Comforter, that he may abide with you 
forever." 

14. The clear, cultured voice went on ; 
" Young man, God is speaking to you ; He 
wants you ; wants you to-day ; wants your 
brains, and your strength, and your in- 
fluence, for Himself. Why do you wait ? 
You know you need Him." 

Judge Burnham's Daughters. 
" He calleth thee" 



XOTEMBER. 129 

15. A very little child can learn to love 
the Saviour. 

Helen Lester. 

" Samuel ministered before the Lord, being a 
child." 



16. It is better to give over planning 
the side that your arm is too weak to reach, 
and learn to trust. 

The Hall in the Groye. 
" What is that to thee? follow thou me." 



17. Only think of it, whiter than snow I 
That is our privilege, to stand before God 
so white that even the whitest thing we 
know is shadowed, in comparison ; and yet 
how little we try for it ; how little of the 
whiteness we are willing to accept. We 
seem rather anxious to have the soiled gai-- 
ments left about us. 

Links in Rebecca's Life. 

•' Come now, and let us reason together, saith the 
Lord : though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be 
as white as snow ; though they be red like crimson, 
they shall be as wool." 



130 NOVEMBER. 

18. But do you think it is wise to spend 
your time in studying the imperfect copies, 
without looking at the perfect pattern ? 
You would not take the child's careless 
imitation as a proof that his teacher could 
not write. 

Ester Ried Yet Speaking. 

" I am the Almighty God ; iralk before me, and 
be thou perfect." 

19. I never realized, until a few days 
ago, that I was trusting myself instead of 
Christ. I have even felt a sort of com- 
placency at night when thinking over the 
day. *" I have done wrong in that thing," 
I said, '•' and in that, but in that other mat- 
ter I came off conqueror. I am stronger 
to-day than I was last week. Oh ! well, that 
is encouraging ; I can't, of course, expect to 
be perfect all in a minute. I can only keep 
pressing on." Xow, whose goodness is that 
but mine ? Whom am I trusting ? Who 
do I mean cannot make me free from my 
besetting sins in a minute ? 

Links in Rebecca's Life. 
" Without me ye can do nothing." 



NOVEMBEK. 131 

20. TVho can tell what God may let 
those little hands or that baby voice do for 
His glory in the turning of the nations ? 

The Pocket Measure. 

*' Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou 
hast perfected praise." 

21. Who will undertake to describe a soul ? 

Profiles. 

" Who knoweth the spirit of a man that goeth 
upvcard" 

22. ^' She had come to a place where 
two roads met, and one was a narrow and 
possibly somewhat stony pathway, but ever 
leading upward, and growing broader and 
brighter as it neared the heights of the 
entrance gate to the Eternal City ; while 
the other was a distinct downward plunge.*' 

Chriisy's EndeaTor. 

'* There is a line by us unseen, 
That crosses every path ; 
That marks the boundary betireen 
God's mercy and His icrath." 

" There is a icay ichich seemeth right unto a man, 
but the end thereof are the v:ays of death." 



132 NOVEMBER. 

23. " The expulsive power of a new 
affection." 

I often think of that sentence in one of 
my old text books. It works magic with 
the human heart. 

Judge Burnham's Daughters. 

" //■ any man love me, he toill keep my words : and 
my Father unit love him, and we ivill come unto him, 
and make our abode with him." 

24. Suppose every lecturer were called 
upon to explain the meaning of the words 
he used ! What would become of the lec- 
turer ? 

The Hall in the Grove. 

" Who is he that hideth counsel voithout knowl- 
edge? therefore have I uttered that I understood 
not ; things too wonderful for me, ivhich I knew not." 

25. You cannot see the heart. Only the 
Lord can see that, and it is only the Lord 
who has, therefore, a right to judge. 

Links in Rebecca's Life. 

" But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, 
because he knew all men, 

And needed not that any should testify of man : 
for he knew what was in man." 



NOVEMBER. 133 

26. All the combined wisdom of the 
world, though it was poured into my ears 
in the form of arguments to which I could 
make no answer in words, could not con- 
vince me that God does not hear my prayer 
and answer : because I have daily proof 
from Himself that He does just that thing. 

The Hall in the Grove. 

" In my disti^ess I called itpon the Lord, and cried 
to mij God: and He did hear my voice out of His 
temple, and my cry did enter into His ears." 

27. Isn't it cowardly to mind a laugh, 
when the road we want to take is not only 
the most sensible, but the only safe one to 
take? 

Helen Lester. 

^^ Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall 
laugh." 

28. "But one must stand somewhere. 
Either you are willing to try to please the 
Lord Jesus Christ to-day, or else you are 
not willing. There is no middle ground." 

Chrissy's Endeavor. 

" Choose ye this day whom ye will serve." " If 
the Lord be God, follow him." 



134 NOVEMBER. 

29. "It would be curious to traxie the 
laws of influence, and see in what remote 
quarters they touch ; and how strangely 
unlike the starting-point is the message 
which is brought to some." 

The Hall in the Grove. 

" That xrhich is far off, and exceeding deep, who 
can find it out?" 

*' But He knoweth the way that I take." 

30. Ah, well, they lived through it. It 
is surprising how many trials we do succeed 
in pushing through, and coming out alive on 
the other side ! 

Profiles. 

" These are they which came out of great tribu- 
lation, and have washed their robes, and made them 
tchite in the blood of the Lamb." 



DECEAIBER. 

1. A year is only a half-hour in Heaven. 

Household Puzzles. 

' But, beloved, he not ignorant of this one thing, 
that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, 
and a thousand years as one day." 

" When we've been there ten thousand years. 

Bright shining as the sun, 
We've no less days to sing God's praise. 

Than when ine first begun." 

2. I doubt if there are any chains harder 
to break than sleepy ones. 

Links in Bebecca's Life. 

•' Therefore, let us not sleep, as do others; but 
let us watch and be sober." 

3. God meant that the human will should 
be a great engine for good, but the human 
will perverted, is a rotten plant, on which 
one's weight cannot be trusted. 

One Commonplace Day. 

•' / seek not mine own will, but the will of the 
Father ichich hath sent me." 

135 



136 DECEMBZS, 

4- " And says Solomon. • I s'pose if we 
had groirin faith like a grain of mustard 
seed — that doesn't stay a grain, after it is 
planted, but grows up into a tree — if we 
was like that, we would keep amazing folks 
ail the time ; they would say they never 
saw the like I And they would have to 
glorify (jod whether they wanted to or not. 
The trouble is, we ain't mustard trees at all, 
but poor little dwarf plants ; we don't die 
outright, and that^s about all that can be 
said of us.' " 

Mrs. Solomon Smith. 

" And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and 
vent forth heforf th^m all ; insomuch that they leere 
all amazed, and glorined God, saying, We never 
savr it on this fashion.'* 

5. I will give you a general rule, which 
I have found a great benefit in my Christian 
life. If you fijid there is the least doubt in 
your mind as to the right or wrong of a 
certain path, give Christ the benefit of the 
doubt and you will surely be right. 

Cunning Workmen- 
*' And he that doubteth is condemned." 



DECEMBEK. 137 

6. If all hcnest unbelievers would but 
stop their reasoning, trying to plan out 
God's work for Kim, and go to Him with 
the whole storv, how quickly it would 
silence all doubt. For faith is the gift of 
God. 

The Hsi!l in the Grore. 

^'^ If any man mil do His iriJl, he shall know of 
the doctrine, ich^ther it be of Gijd, or vyhether I 
speak of myself." 

7. Some sorrowful places there may be 
for your feet and mine on our journey home. 
Bear the thorns of the way in patience, for 
they are only on t/te icay through the woods ; 
not a thorn in the home. 

Int^rmpted. 

" For I reckon that the sufferings of this preserU 
time are not irortho to be compared icith the glory 
ichich shall be revealed in us." 

8. Remember that no early mistake can 
be righted by adding to it a later and a 
graver one. 

The Randolphs. 

•* And the king icas sorry: neceHheUss, for the 
oath's sake, and them whieh sat with him at meat^ he 
covumanded it to In, giten her." 



138 DECEMBER. 

9. If you could be sure that the hand of 
the Lord was really in every phase of life, 
how greatly would it tone and temper all 
the experiences thereof ! 

Links in Rebecca's Life. 

*' Behold the fowls of the air : for they sow not, 
neither do they reap, ndr gather into barns; yet 
your Heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not 
much better than theyf " 

10. " In the meantime, what you and I 
find in the Bible that God has spoken, we 
will try to do, always : whether it is hard 
or easy. Shall we not ? " 

Judge Burnham's Daughters. 

'^Ifye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in 
my love ; even as I have kept my Father's command- 
ments, and abide in his love.'' 

11. " There is no respect of persons with 
God." 

What is the use in a man thinking about 
his *' position " or his " abilities " after that ? 

An Endless Chain. 

** My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of 
persons." 



DECEMBER. 139 

12. " It is not heavy trials always which 
unnerve us. Our Christian faith often rises 
superior to these, when a pin-prick would 
move us to tears.'' 

Spun from Fact. 

" Though now for a season, if need be, ye are in 
heaviness through manifold temptations : 

That the trial of your faith being more precious 
than that of gold that perisheth, though it be tried 
with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and 
glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.'* 

13. I know, I have to be careful of mak- 
ing conditions, when it comes to a matter 
of prayer. It is the Lord's right to make 
conditions if He will ; but it is not mine. 

Links in Rebecca's Life. 
*' And this is the confidence that we have in him, 
that, if we ask anything according to his will, he 
heareth tcs." 

14. I should like to know if even a little 
knowledge isn't better than ignorance j 
Suppose a stream isn't very deep ; if it is 
water that we need, it is much better than 
no stream at all, isn't it ? 

The Hall in the Grove, 
" And she said, Truth, Lord : yet the dogs eat of 
the crumbs which fall from their masters' table." 



140 DECEMBER. 

15. Certain sopranos were asked to pre- 
pare choice selections, such as : "I think 
only of thee, Love," and "■ My Heart's dearest 
Treasure," and " Ever thine own. Love," and 
a few other of those gems which we hear 
screamed out by seraphic voices to large and 
appreciative audiences. I have never heard 
it explained why so much of our popular 
music should be wedded to words which the 
performer would blush to repeat in prose to 
an audience of more than one. 

Profiles. 

" It is better to hear the rehiike of the wise, than 
for a man to hear the song of fools." 

16. The Lord will have nothing to do 
with compromises. When He has made the 
right entirely plain to you, the manner in 
which you may be sustained, while you are 
treading the road of His pointing out, is in 
a sense not your concern ; He will under- 
take for you. Trust Him. 

The Pocket Measure. 

^^ Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offer- 
ings and sacrifices, as in obeijing the voice of the 
Lord? Behold, to ohcij is better than sacrifice." 



DECEMBER. 141 

17. It is noticeable that when we get 
down to the root of the matter and question 
how the Lord Himself views ns, instead of 
what human eyes see and human hearts 
think, we forget the mote in our brother's 
eye and busy ourselves solemnly with the 
beam in our own eye. 

Links in Rebecca's Life. 
" Behold, I am vile; ichat shall I answer thee? 
I will lay mine hand upon my mouth." 

18. Sometimes I have heard people talk 
as though they really thought there was a 
different code of rules for a minister's life, 
than for the ordinary Christian's. But, 
after all, he has to be guided by the same 
Bible, led by the same Spirit. 

A New Graft. 
" And, let every one that nameth the name of 
Christ depart froin iniquity." 

19. It often happens that what we cannot 
find in this world ready made to our needs, 
we proceed to manufacture. 

The Hall in the Grove. 
*' And when they could not come nigh unto him 
for the press, they uncovered the roof where he teas : 
and when they had broken it up, they let down the 
bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay." 



142 DECEMBER. 

20. I was as certainly chosen of God as 
ever Paul was ; for assuredly I did not come 
to Him of myself, and therefore He must in- 
deed have chosen me ; and I wonder whether 
probably each Christian has not a work to 
do as definite as Paul's — a work that would 
be given to no other, unless indeed the 
chosen one failed. 

Ester Ried Yet Speaking. 

** The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that 
thou shouldst know his will." 

21. The Lord met Saul and gave him 
wonderful salvation, but He didn't save 
him from many a future trial and pain. He 
never promised to do so. 

Links in Rebecca's Life. 

" For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and 
scourgeth every son whom he receiveth." 

22. Who lives exclamation points every 
day ? There comes occasionally one, into 
most lives ; but, for the most part, lives are 
made up of commas, and interrogations, and 
dashes. 

Ruth Erskine's Crosses. 
'* My times are in thy hand." 



DECEMBER. 143 

23. ^^ He was not the sort of man who 
could frankly say, ' I was in the wrong, I beg 
you will forgive.' Such a statement calls 
for a very high grade of character ; calls, 
perhaps, for Christian character ; though 
there have been men who knew how to say 
* forgive me/ to mortals, not yet having 
learned to say it to Christ ! " 

Judge Burnham's Daughters. 

" Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and 
he shall lift you up." 



24. I don't know the end of any story 
that is being lived now — yours or mine, 
for instance ; but the Lord does ; and I 
would much rather have Him do all the 
planning. 

An Endless Chain. 

*• But he knoweth the xuay that I take: ichen he 
hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold." 

" His wisdom ever waketh. 

His sight is never dim ; 
He knows the way He taketh. 

And I vnll ivalk with Him.^* 



144 DECEMBER. 

25. " Said I to Jessie : ' That's for all 
the world the way your Uncle Solomon acts 
when he gets in the house a little before 
dinner is ready. He looks at the clock, and 
he watches me, and he gapes, and he acts as 
though there was nothing in the world he 
was so near ready for as his dinner, till I 
get it on the table, and say, "Come, Sol- 
omon," and then he's off. He finds out that 
the gate isn't shut, and that the stove in the 
front room needs a stick of wood, and his 
hands need washing, and there's no end to 
the things that he seems to think he must 
do while the dinner sets there and spoils.' " 

Mrs. Solomon Smith. 

" In all things sheicing thyself a pattern of good 
works." 

26. You know reasons can almost always 
be found for things, when we arvi very 
anxious to find them. 

Ruth Erskine's Crosses. 

" In which are some things hard to be understood, 
which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, 
as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own 
destruction." 



DECEMBER. 145 

27. "Said I to Jessie: 'That's for all 
the world the way your Uncle Solomon acts 
when he gets in the house a little before 
dinner is ready. He looks at the clock, and 
he watches me, and he gapes, and he acts as 
though there was nothing in the world he 
was so near ready for as his dinner, till I 
get it on the table, and say, "Come, Sol- 
omon," and then he's off. He finds out that 
the gate isn't shut, and that the stove in the 
front room needs a stick of wood, and his 
hands need washing, and there's no end to 
the things that he seems to think he must 
do while the dinner sets there and spoils.' '^ 

Mrs. Solomon Smith. 

" In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good 
tvorks." 

28. Why do we, any of us, allow temper, 
and neuralgia, and colds in the head, to get 
the better of us ? I'm sure I don't know ; 
but haven't you done it ? 

Links in Rebecca's Life. 
" And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for 
thee : for my strength is made perfect in weakness. 
Most gladly therefore will I glory in my infirmities, 
that the power of Christ may rest upon me." 



146 DECEMBER. 

29. Suppose we knew all the histories of 
all the happenings of one day ? With what 
awe, and dismay, and terror, and gratitude, 
they might fill us, according as we had, with 
our little thoughtless words and ways, helped 
or hindered the march of a soul ! 

One Commonplace Day, 

" Be not deceived ; God is not mocked ; for xchat- 
soever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." 

30. " Some day, mother, he will slip 
away from the hedges with which your 
love has surrounded him. 

''You have not fed him with reasons for 
things. So many mothers are failing here." 

Her David. 

" Train np a child in the way he should go : and 
iKhen he is old, he imll not depart from it." 

31. Acts that involve a lifetime of trouble 
can be told in a few words. 

The Chautauqua Girls at Home. 
^' It is finished." 



45:12 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



020 994 049*8 



